How to prep eggshells?

[ONSTAD1]

When people talk about crushed eggshells I'm not exactly sure what that means. Crumbled in your fingers to small pieces or zipped in a food processor to sand like consistency? Will feeding my hens eggshells tempt them into becoming egg breakers?

thanks

Mo

 

[mnferalkitty]

I have done both crushed them in a plastic bag with a rolling pin and used a food grinder(it wrecked my food grinder). I found it to be a pain and now I just buy oyster shell and give it to them free choice, a big bag of oyster shell from the farm store is cheap and lasts a long time. I also just give my hens egg shells whole after I have cracked them for whatever cooking. I have no egg eaters unless an egg gets broke in the coop etc.

 

[Blesser]

I use to cook mine in the microwave for a few minutes after I wash them. Make sure to wash them good. After the microwave they are easy to crush, let them cool done first because they are hot. Then crush with hands or put in a plastic bag and crush with rolling pin like mnferalkitty mentioned. Oyster shell is much easier though, if you have a compost pile you can recycle eggshells there if you don't want to throw them out.

 

[ONSTAD1]

Oyster shells it is!

Can you buy a 10 or 25# bag. 50# would be way too much with my limited storage space.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

There's no need for major processing here. I keep an old pan in my oven that I toss egg shells in when I use them. Anytime I use the oven after I'm finished and have turned it off I put the pan in so the residual heat can dry out the shells. Not cook them, just dry them out. When the pan gets full I dump them into an old #10 can and crush them up with a potato masher. Don't have to be powdered or crushed into fine little pieces. Just crush them to the point a chicken could eat it. When the can gets full I take it to the feed room and mix a handful into their layer feed until it has been used up.