Free choice dried egg shells???

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Hello chicken friends, whats your opinion on offering free choice dried egg shells? I have 5 pullets and they have free choice oyster shells, but would like to add a more natural source of calcium if possible. Thanks! Just lookin' for peeps opinions and expertise

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Dried egg shells are good, I feed back all my egg shells to my flock. Oyster shell is also perfectly fine, the calcium provided is pretty much the same. I've heard it said that eggshells will release into the chicken's body a little faster than Oyster shell. I do both, always Oyster and then any egg shell I have goes out to them. It's important to note that just feeding back egg shells that the hens themselves have laid isn't enough calcium, but I don't think that's what you're doing.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Yes, it can be done - no, the shells of the eggs produced by your own chickens aren't sufficient to meet their dietary calcium needs. Because. (lengthy physics explanation, but ultimately entropy is a thing and 100% efficient biological processes don't exist at scale)

Serious debate as to whether its necessary to crush eggshells or not before feeding them. I've not yet picked a side. I usually just throw waste eggs up in the air and let them shatter on my clay soils, or pitch empty shells out with the rest of the kitchen waste. My flock is large enough that the little bit my wife and I generate aren't even worthy of being called "treats", certainly not enough to count as a dietary suppliment.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and egg shells are more rapidly absorbed than oyster shell not due to any difference in composition - both are mostly calcium carbonate - but due to surface area relative to volume. Shells are very thin, rapidly crushed and then digested by a chicken. Oyster shell isn't, and doesn't, on a pound per pound basis.

 

[McChooky]

I don't sell or give away my eggs .I only have 5 hens and use all their eggs in baking or cooking. If I have a few extras I'll cook and feed them to the chickens and dogs. They love to eat scrambled eggs! I save all my egg shells and let them dry a couple weeks before using them. Typically I'll crush and bake them in a 200 degree oven for an hour then let them cool off in the oven before removing them. Sometimes I grind them up in a coffee grinder but it wastes a lot of shells unless they're mixed it in with their feed. My chickens have a container full of egg shells in their runs.I don't throw egg shells on the ground or throw them away. Most chickens don't eat their own eggs unless they have a deficiency or accidentally break them.Leaving eggs in the nest too long leads to them getting broken and eat.Edit:This method is time consuming so its understandable that some don't choose to use this method.

 

[aart]

I rinse dry and crush my egg shells, then mix them in with the OS.
Egg shells will break down faster in the gizzard, OS will last longer.

 

[rjmyooper]

There seems to be a division of those who bake them and those who don't. I don't have my Ducklings yet, but I'm saving egg shells in an open coffee can on the counter. I'm my own cleaning crew, so they won't accidentally get thrown away.

 

[RubelliteRose]

I collect our egg shells on a toaster oven cookie sheet and then toast them for a few minutes to dry them and roughly crush them with my hands. I used to mix them in with the oyster shell(always available) until one of our hens tossed all the oyster shell on the ground looking for any leftover egg shell pieces
I now offer the egg shell in a separate bowl. They consider it a treat

 

[Battlepants]

I toss back all eggshells from the eggs that I take (minus the few that I give away to neighbors) and things seem to be going good. As for the cook/uncooked, dried/normal, I kinda do a combo of it all depends on how the egg was used. Hardboiled eggs naturally have a cooked shell, but if I am pan frying the egg, the egg shell doesn't get cooked. Either way, I crush them up enough so the hens can easily eat them and that they no longer look like eggs. And, of note, this in addition to their layer feed, which has a decent amount of calcium in it. I don't typically add oyster shells unless I happen to have a mixed flock of laying and non-laying pullets - this case will get flockraiser with a side of oyster shells. Or just flockraiser if nobody is laying.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have a dog who has chronic pancreatitis and a rare blood disease that requires a special diet. Eggs are part of that regimen I hard boil eggs for the dog. When I peel them, I put the shells in a container on my counter. Then I take the shells to the run where I feed them back to the flock along with oyster. It's a great system.