Anyone Grind Their Own Oyster Shells?

[duckinnut]

I would buy a hand roller the type thats fillable with water,just load the shells in it and some round stones that will fit in and roll away. If you have a lawn tractor take it for a tow.Its my version of stone ground. I also do something similar on a smaller scale with eggshells. Got a 3 pound plastic coffee container and 4 stones golfball size and smaller,i dry the shells for a day or two in the sun,toss them in and shake away. After about ten minutes you have a mix of dust and small pieces,which you can mix in the feed or its a great shot of calcium for the garden. Tomatoes,cukes,squash,eggplants and all peppers are calcim loving plants.

 

[hannahransom]

Anyone try a food processor or vitamix? I have oyster shells I want to grind and am wondering if I will ruin the blades trying to use those...

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Unless you have a rock crusher the only way I'd even consider doing this would be putting them in the driveway to roll over with the a vehicle as a part of your ordinary coming and going. Let the birds harvest the bits they want themselves.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Unless you have a rock crusher the only way I'd even consider doing this would be putting them in the driveway to roll over with the a vehicle as a part of your ordinary coming and going. Let the birds harvest the bits they want themselves.

X2!

That, or take a pickup truckload to a gravel mill (or whatever they're called) if that's feasible.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I grind mine in the Blendtec belnder - works great!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

It's cheaper to buy a bag of Oyster Shell than it is to buy a blender, or the gas to run over them.
Some things just aren't worth doing yourself

 

[EweSheep]

Same here!

It's cheaper to buy a bag of Oyster Shell than it is to buy a blender, or the gas to run over them.
Some things just aren't worth doing yourself

 

[cravenchx]

We use a dirt tamper and place the shell on a piece of metal and,
WHAM, WHAM,WHAM!
Helps to get out some frustrations too.!
I'm not going to buy shells when we eat oysters on the half shell.

Oh, it helps if the shell has some age on them!

 

[Patapsco Mike]

I work with oysters for a living. I just make a small pile of shells where the chickens can get to them. They scratch around in them, flip them over, and generally abuse them. Every few weeks I scrape them back into a pile. Pieces break off every time they shell is moved. Over time the pieces get smaller and smaller. It's pretty much zero effort for me, just using leftovers from when I buy a bushel of oysters. Speaking of which, it's about time I bought another bushel of yummy Chesapeake Bay oysters...

 

[DFCottage]

I use to have my horse on a farm in Northern Mass right on the water. There was an oyster processing plant on the far side of the property (luckily it rarely ever smelled) but they would grind up the oyster shells and line the miles of trails that we had with them.. I couldn't believe how lucky I was Plus in such a fine form they were actually great to ride on! haha no dust and the rain went right through them into the ground.