Feeding chicken egg shells

[NatJ]

Is it ok to feed my chickens their egg shells and what for prep do I need to do before doing this?

Yes it is fine.

I wasn’t sure if I need to wash them first?

Some people like to, but I've never heard a chicken complain about unwashed shells. (No sickness or other bad effects either.)

I was thinking too that I would just give them some the same day I eat eggs and not necessarily keep them around for days.

That is what I've always done. I have never bothered with washing, drying, or much crushing/grinding of the shells. Giving the shell a quick squish is the most I've done (so it looks a bit less like an egg.) Sometimes that means stepping on the shell after dropping it in the chicken run, other times it happens with a hand or fork in the kitchen before taking the shell outside.

 

[Tookie]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

 

[FearfullyMade68]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

I just put the shells in a left over Chinese food container, zap them for 30 seconds in the microwave then put them in a zip lock bag and crush them. When the bag is about full, I put them in an old nut jar with a hole cut in it that I screwed to a post as a dispenser:
View attachment 3741106

That is a really neat idea!