egg shells

[ali]

my husband decided to feed the chickens egg shells. i know they can help with shell strength (so i've been told) but i wonder, if they did like them, don't think they do, will they start pecking and eating their OWN eggs / shells?

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I try to break up / pulverize the shells as much as possible before giving them to my girls (who like them quite a bit). So far it seems they can't connect that the shells I'm feeding them came from their own eggs.

 

[buckbeak]

I either bake or cook them & crush them up in a Ziplock bag with my hands so they don't look anything like eggshells. They love to eat them & so far they haven't touched their own eggs.

 

[greyfields]

People certainly do this, although I feel it could contribute to egg eating.

If you are truly trying to add strength to your egg shells (a shortage of calcium can cause soft shells), it's going to be far less work to buy yourself a 50# bag of ground oyster shell (around $10 bucks). It will probably last you a year or more if left out as a free choice supplement.

Egg shells are GREAT for your garden compost or to feed to pigs if you have them. I wouldn't go through the effort personally recycling egg shells to chickens knowing there are more effective supplements out there.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Quote:
Yup, I'd aggree with that!

 

[Zenbirder]

Someone pointed out to me that there are human supplements on the market containing natural eggshell membrane. It is supposed to help with joint pains. I would think the membrane would be a good supplement for the chickens also.

 

[ali]

i personally feel it's a personal prefrence, i myself think it's just WRONGE to feed a chicken (or any other bird) egg. just somethin unnatural about it. i like oyster shells so i'll ask my hubby to refrain frim feeding our flock eggshells and if he protests i'll say "YA'LL MADE ME DO IT!"

 

[bossynbella]

i was worried about the egg eating at first by my DH decided it was okay and even started throwing the banty eggs for the chickens ( we dont save them as we get more brown and blue from our 5 big chickens then we can eat, we give them to the cats or chickens) I was upset when I found out but had been doing it for a while and they don't bother there eggs at all. Its fun to watch them fighting for the egg shells and they occasionally get a whole egg and they really love that

 

[rooster-red]

By feeding them egg shell you are just giving them back ingredients that came from a chicken, 100 % compatible with their body chemistry, therefore easy to absorb.