crushed egg shells

[graphicgranny]

Hi everyone!

I am another newbie in raising chickens so I have started slowly with Wyandottes 6 pullets and a roo. I have been told that I need to clean empty egg shells, remove the membrane inside, put them in the microwave for a short time, crush them and feed them to the chickens. Is this correct? If so what is the purpose of removing the membrane?
Thanks for any help you can give me,
Nancy

 

[duckinnut]

Dont think I have heard that one. I dont do either. I leave the shells out in the sun to dry them out and makes the brittle. Throw them in a coffee container with some rocks to crush them up,then mix in to their food. Also throw a little in the garden for those calcium loving veggies,although it has to be finely ground.

Alot of people worry about bacteria,this egg came out the chicken. Once its dry,any bacteria will die. Why worry about whats on the egg,the chicken is running around eating worms,ants,flies,maggots,ticks and whatever else they can catch not to mention they would rather drink out of the puddle that formed while you were filling their waterer with nice clean water. Germs are the last thing on a chickens mind I would gather.

 

[LoreenH]

I've been told just to bake or microwave them, then crush them; wasn't told to remove the membrane. Are your girls laying yet? If not, they don't need the eggshells yet.

 

[FinsUp]

I just keep them in a bag under the sink, when full enough and dry, I food process them and put them in a container to feed back. Just like you would separate for compost, keep out the egg shells. I don't think you need to spend too much time on them. takes all of a couple of minutes for a couple of months worth of shells.

 

[amenfarm]

I was told you bake them in the oven for a shot time so they don't have that fresh egg smell. The point was to keep the chicken from egg eating because of the smell.

 

[luvinrunnin]

We eat a lot of boiled eggs. I just save the eggshells and once they are dry, crush them up and feed them back.

 

[triplepurpose]

Just to throw another one at you...I don't clean, microwave, bake OR dry--I crush them in my hand and drop them into the scrap bucket, which we toss into the coop usually every other day. My friends do the exact same thing with theirs. Much simpler...

 

[Fred's Hens]

Thousands of BYC folks simply let the egg shells dry. A week later, crush them, toss the shell bits in the feed. No fuss. No muss. No need to worry about creating egg eaters, nor fear the bacteria. Chickens live in a cess pool of bacteria, (as do we, btw).

No need to make life any more complicated.

 

[graphicgranny]

Thank you so much to everyone that replied! Now I won't be so particular about membranes and such! My girls aren't laying yet so I will just store up the shells til thet do!
Again,
Nancy

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

I served them up scrambled.