Calcium, size matters (?!?)

[feltingfrenzy]

I've been providing a mix of oyster shell and crushed, clean egg shells to the hens for a long time. I was adding the oyster shell because I was unsure of effectiveness of the calcium after "recycling" it through the hen's digestive tract. Here is a link to some info that seems fact based on how the hen uses calcium:

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/08/for-strong-eggshells-size-matters.html

Thought it was interesting...and I'll continue with the mixture.

Bwaack!

 

[Chris09]

I've been providing a mix of oyster shell and crushed, clean egg shells to the hens for a long time. I was adding the oyster shell because I was unsure of effectiveness of the calcium after "recycling" it through the hen's digestive tract. Here is a link to some info that seems fact based on how the hen uses calcium:

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/08/for-strong-eggshells-size-matters.html

Thought it was interesting...and I'll continue with the mixture.

Bwaack!

The particle size of the calcium supply makes a big difference.

It's like I told Kathy sometime back when she was here on BYC and before she knew about particle size of calcium and the affect on egg, egg shells are best saved and used in the garden because they do little good for providing the calcium a hen need.
Here's one of the studies that I provided for here.

Quote from http://www.zootecnicainternational.com/article-archive/nutrition/889-calcium-source-particle-size-and-calcium-level-for-laying-hens-.htm
Quote:
* Egg specific gravity is a test that is done to tell the quality of a egg sell.
Having a bad/poor specific gravity means a egg has poor shell quality and thin shells.

 

[feltingfrenzy]

Thanks for adding the info - very interesting.