Has anyone ever experienced an uptick in egg eating after feeding back eggshells? I have not been feeding back the shells, because it seemed to me it would lead to egg eating...a problem I have not experienced at all and don't want to. Or, are you crushing them so fine that the girls don't recognize it?
I have just recently started feeding the shells back to mine and haven't had any egg eating. I dry them out for a couple days and then put in a big ziplock bag and crush up. I sprinkle the shells in with their food, so I'm not sure they realize what it is. To tell the truth I'm not sure if they are smart enough to realize! lol!
Feeding back the shells is just as complicated as you wish to make it. Most experienced flock keepers simply collect the shells in a bucket and they air dry. No muss, no fuss. Crush them if you wish and toss a pound of them out into the run. If the birds' bodies desire the calcium, they'll pick at them. If not, they'll ignore them. The fear is unfounded. Brooding hens often clean up the egg shells in their nest. Most hens will quickly gobble up any egg that gets broken in the nest, or if we inadvertently drop an egg? It's pounced upon immediately. No egg eaters are created.
Thanks, Fred and PeachyGirl. I'll start feeding back the shells right away. I've been putting them in the compost, but they take forever to break down. I'll let the girls do it for me.
I collect eggshells and keep them in a cup in the fridge. Then whenever I have to oven on, (for something else), I spread the shells out on an old cookie sheet and toss them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. They come out nice and dry and then I crush them, and toss them over their feed for the day. I keep a cup of the dryed shells handy for each new bowl of feed that I place in the coop. No egg eaters here, well, unless I scramble up an egg for the gals!
