Best delivery method for Oyster Shell

[Stellar]

Quote:
My coturnix lay on 30% protein PM GBS, tap water and some play sand from HOME DEPOT. Nothing else. Must be something in my tap water, because I had fine eggs long before I found overpriced "OYSTER-SHELL" in a format my birds could acutely eat.
Please don't say "they won't lay without the oystershell" because that is totally untrue!

Coturnix will also lay eggs without ever eating a single meal worm, or ingesting any amount of boiled egg, or ground up cat food.

Oh no, I am saying MINE won't lay without their oystershell in the dust pan. I am not saying everyone's won't. I just like to provide my guys with a healthy diet

And no losses other than a snake or two per season. It's all preference. In your case you are using play sand, that's fine. I use dirt from outside and oystershells. PREFERENCE

 

[MobyQuail]

I had an incident where a very nervous cot hen got loose in the garage, I found her ~36 hrs later wedged between the block wall and a cardboard box, she was ~4 inches off the ground- stuck there- she had laid 2 eggs from that position... no food, no water, no oystershell...

mine seem to lay "like a Persian rug on a rich man's floor"

but since then, I admit to buying a 50lb bag of oystershell (on sale for $9) and use it sparingly along with DE- in their feed or sandbath- but its just a hobby and we got the green to burn around here

my .02+tax

 

[Stellar]

It's all preference of how you handle your own birds. They lose a lot of calcium when laying and I don't feed them GBS start to finish so it's a matter of preference.