Feeding egg shells

[MadChickensVT]

I'm considering feeding my chickens their egg shells. There's usually some egg white/yolk still clinging to the eggs. Do I risk them turning into egg eaters? I've noticed some people bake their shells before feeding, is that to prevent egg eating?

Thanks for any info

 

[Beekissed]

Main reason being they are full of salmonella.

Now...let me see if I am understanding this point: The chickens who lay the eggs, lay them infected with salmonella...so they cannot then eat them for fear of getting salmonella?

Am I understanding that correctly?

Doesn't that seem a little....er....irrational to you?​

 

[Beekissed]

I simply crush up the eggs and give it to them straight. I doubt there would be any salmonella, or enough to harm them in their own eggs. They've never had a problem with it, and so I'll continue to give it to them.

Exactly. If the eggs had salmonella how in the world would it hurt to feed them back to the same hens that laid them, seeing as those hens already have a salmonella infection so bad that it has entered their reproductive system? That's sort of a tautology.

No need to bake, sterilize, crush, pulverize, sanitize, air dry or otherwise alter egg shells to feed them to chickens as it won't make them sick or cause them to develop a taste for eggs...they were already born with a "taste for eggs" and that isn't something they need to learn,it's instinctive.

 

[Marcymom3]

Yes, I think it is to prevent egg eating.

I keep a container on the counter for eggshells. At the end of the day I microwave them for 30 seconds. This cooks any egg white left in the shell and makes it easier to crush them up. We keep a large pan of oyster shell in their run and I just add the eggshells to that in the morning. My chickens seem to prefer their eggshells to the oyster shell.

 

[S.L.Swope]

I would like to know this as well and how fine to grind them. I have a few jars the are almost powdered that I use in the veggie beds

 

[trooper]

I feed my egg shells back to my chickens and the only thing I do is crush them up.They chow down on it good and none goes to waste.The shells are smashed but I don't worry how fine they are.It doesn't seem to bother them that the shells aren't broken up.I have never microwaved them,Not saying that that isn't right;just Id do it that way.

 

[Nambroth]

I have a stoneware dish that I have sitting on top of my oven, right where my oven 'vents' heat out in the back. I put the egg shells in this, and it heats and dries them and prevents any new* bacteria from taking up residence. After I get quite a few I crush them (just to make eating easier) then feed back to the hens.

If I don't light my oven anytime within reason I will microwave the eggshell batch to dry them, kill any new bacteria, and make them easier to crush.

* I'm not worried about feeding them any bacteria that were on/in the eggs to start with, since the eggs came from the chickens obviously. This is just me being cautious about new unwelcome flora taking up residence in the leftover proteins stuck to the egg, since I leave them sitting out. Same reason why I wouldn't feed my chickens spoiled foods. I don't know, realistically, if it's any danger or not but a few seconds in the microwave once every week doesn't really take much time out of my day, just in case

 

[Beekissed]

Yes...it is a well-traveled myth that feeding them their egg shells when they still resemble, taste and smell like an egg shell will turn them into egg-eaters. No worries...just throw 'em out in the yard and watch the fun!

 

[ellie32526]

yep, probably fine. I baited mine with the cracked corn mostly so *I'd* know they knew it was there! 'cause you know half the stuff we do for them is really to make us comfortable, not them...

Yep, I agree. My mother remarked after watching me over the last few weeks with my chickens that I have the most spoiled chickens in Texas. She said I do more with and for my chickens than anyone she has ever known. I resemble that remark. I only catch June bugs for them every night so they can have their special treat every morning. I feed them mealworms every day. I turn over rocks in our chicken yard to help them find crickets, centipedes, and spider OH YUCK! If I have any leftover cornbread they get that too. I'm not spoiling them, am I?

 

[gilcamp4]

I thought you could just crush them up and offer it to them.

that is what we do I crush them and mix with feed, I have been doing this for 5 years never had chicken eat its eggs, had a snake eat them. lol