Eggs brittle and yolks falling apart

[U_Stormcrow]

I used to bake and reseed egg shells. But I’ve read that the chickens don’t absorb as much calcium from them as the oyster shells. So I don’t do it anymore. I prefer them in my compost for next years soil additive

I'd be interested in seeing that reading, it not immediately obvious how such a claim could be maintained based on either chemistry or mechanics.

Oyster shell is calcium carbonate, basically useless for humans, slowly digested in chickens. The slow release is actually a bonus for them, as it continues to provide steady Ca for their use overnight/periods when they aren't eating to support egg shell production over the course of about 25 hours. Eggs shells are ALSO primarily Calcium Carbonate - but which much greater surface area/volume ratio, meaning they dissolve much faster in the chicken's intestinal tract (after being pulverized in the crop), making for a much faster short term "hit" of calcium.

Calcium Citrate, the kind of Calcium we human types can actually make use of (at least, at much better rates than Ca carbonate) is an even quicker Ca boost, sometimes used medically for chickens w/ various egg-related illnesses, like egg binding.

 

[kattabelly]

I'd be interested in seeing that reading, it not immediately obvious how such a claim could be maintained based on either chemistry or mechanics.

I wouldn't be surprised if the original message was something more like "feeding chickens (just their own) egg shells back to them doesn't provide as much calcium as they need as offering (unlimited, free choice) oyster shell" and it's been slightly changed over time with repetition.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I wouldn't be surprised if the original message was something more like "feeding chickens (just their own) egg shells back to them doesn't provide as much calcium as they need as offering (unlimited, free choice) oyster shell" and it's been slightly changed over time with repetition.

I saw a Facebook claim that it passed thru them too quickly to digest, but I can find absolutely no evidence for that claim, it makes no sense mechanically, and I've found no evidence in my own flocks. The Poster said a lot of other things I found to be simply wrong, ignorant, or sensational - there was no reason to think this particular claim was better sourced.

I throw their egg shells back and watch behaviors as a way to identify birds not getting enough Ca from their feed (my mix is about 2.7% CA +/-) plus the free choice oyster shell.

 

[BDutch]

That’s interesting. I don’t buy organic feed but I do buy Non GMO feed and specifically hunted down one that did not contain soy or corn since my understanding is the majority of soy and corn is GMO. I have read other posts that say soy is important but never heard the reason for it. Our eggs get rave reviews so far but I’ll put this info under my hat.

My chickens get organic feed. The layer snd chick feed has a little soy that is not GMO.
The poison residues in GMO have a negative effect on the health of chickens and other animals. There was (is) proof for it (small research) but bc the big boys from the feed industry didn’t like the outcome they stopped the programm and prevented (initially) a second large scale research.
Last year they started a new research with pigs : GMO vs non-GMO.

Back to the calcium:
My chickens prefer to eat the egg shells over oyster flakes/crushed shell, and my chickens know best!