Eggshells in their oatmeal?? Anyone?

[jerseygirl1]

I was going to cook up some oatmeal for my hens, and figured maybe I could sneak in some eggshells for the calcium. I washed them and let them dry out - would they be OK to put in there??

 

[gritsar]

Sure.

 

[Spore]

Mine enjoy snacking on eggshells.

 

[Marlinchaser]

I would give them the shells seperate, Roos and young chicks dont need the extra calcium. Hens know(I dont know how they just do) when they need extra calcium, and will eat the extra shells if they need it.

 

[RocketDad]

Leftover oatmeal from kids' breakfast is my favorite way to sneak shells into their food!

I toss all the eggshells in a big yogurt or cottage cheese tub I keep on my counter, and when it's full I toss them into the toaster oven (not in the tub - on the oven's cooking sheet). I try to use the leftover heat after making a mini-pizza or something like that. Heating the shells dries them out and makes them easier to crumble.

My current way to crush the shells: I have a plastic peanut butter jar with a rock in it. I shove them into the jar and shake the rock. Not as fine-grained of a crush as some of the other things I've tried, but it's cheap, and the chickens haven't complained yet. It gives me something to do when I wait for the microwave. And it makes my wife laugh.

 

[henryetta]

this is kinda funny cause i was making develed eggs today and so smashed up some of the shells, threw some oats into the pot to cook, and a bit of hamberger.. Cooked it, cooled it and added some yogurt for their before bed snack... funny what we do for them... little buggars.