Anyone feed the egg shells their chickens lay back to them?

[MissMonty]

Mine get our kitchen scraps so I just crush them up and shove them in the bin and I take it out each evening to them or the compost bin.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

I throw a few eggs out onto the ground daily when I gather eggs. The chickens love them, shell and all.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I throw a few eggs out onto the ground daily when I gather eggs. The chickens love them, shell and all.

Really!? Doesn't that encourage egg eating from the nest??

 

[ShrekDawg]

Really!? Doesn't that encourage egg eating from the nest??

Mine have cleaned up dropped eggs before and don’t touch the eggs in the nest!

I would never intentionally throw them to them and waste eggs though

I do sometimes cook older eggs for them if we’re trying to use them up or dirty, cracked, etc. but I wouldn’t just toss them but I have dropped them before and they’re quick to clean up LOL

 

[21hens-incharge]

Really!? Doesn't that encourage egg eating from the nest??

No. Normally an egg eaten in the nest has cracked in the nest, has a thin shell, or had an exploratory peck. It is not as common as one is encouraged to believe.

 

[SwampFlock]

I feed eggshells back as well. I rinse, grind, and keep in a jar in the freezer to add to homemade flock blocks.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

No. Normally an egg eaten in the nest has cracked in the nest, has a thin shell, or had an exploratory peck. It is not as common as one is encouraged to believe.

^^^ echoing this. I feed shells back to my flock daily (mentioned above) with no preparation whatsoever. Not dried, baked, crushed, etc. Just cracked upon half egg shells. Have been doing it since my flock started laying. Even when one of my new layers drops an egg on the ground, the other little dinosaurs don't attack it.. They've even left jiggly little under-calcium'd first-time layer eggs on the ground of the run for hours until I throw them in the air and allow them to go splat. THEN they attack.

Assaulting freshly laid, intact eggs is rare, and probably indicative of either behavioral or nutritional problems in the flock, until it becomes a learned behavior. It does not appear to be their natural instinct.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I feed eggshells back as well. I rinse, grind, and keep in a jar in the freezer to add to homemade flock blocks.

Oooh homemade flock blocks, what else do you put in it?

 

[Matejka]

All the time. All our scraps (even chicken) they play football with meat scraps especially. Mine don't care for cooked onion,

 

[Sequel]

Sometimes I’ll put them on a cookie sheet on the woodstove to get them good and dry, sometimes in the oven either preheating for another purpose or after baking something. I just want them dry. I do offer oyster shell too.