I’ve heard that you can substitute egg shells for oyster shells. Is this true?

[Yardmom]

The chickens eat them with out crushing them. The baking them is for sterilization. I have never baked and have never had a problem. Their own eggs just going back to the coop they came from. I do add osyter shells occasionally as eggs will become porous if no new calcium is added.

 

[JanR1]

I read someone's instructions for using the egg shells to feed the chickens. It said 350 for 30 minutes but I thought that would scorch them so I did 300 for 20 to 30 minutes and checked to see what it looked like. They were just right and I used a double grocery bag to smash them as fine as I could and had my husband put them out. He said they really thought they were getting a treat and pushed each other away to get them. That was the first time it may not always be that way.

I remember my grandmother saving them for her chickens and putting them in the oven to toast.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Eggs shells MIGHT have enough supplemental calcium if you give your hens layer feed with calcium in it. If you give them all flock, I'd go with oyster shell - you need to remember, if you're only putting back what comes out (calcium-wise), you're losing calcium, since no animal is 100% efficient at processing a nutrient.

A 50 lb bag of oyster shell is $11.99 at TSC. Hard to think of many things you can buy 50 lbs of for cheaper than that!

 

[Folly's place]

Eggs shells fed back will replace a bit of the calcium they need, but never enough, and may not be available to the hen at 3am (about) when she's laying down the shell on that day's egg. Offer oyster shell anyway, and then the egg shells are a bonus.
Mary

 

[Skyleen13]

Okay lone one out here buy oyster 50 lbs at time best price have lots of birds
three coops

I’ve only got 11 chickens. 10 hens & 1 roo. They’re not even close to laying yet so I’m stock piling egg shells now. I figure if I do a mix of half egg shells & half oyster shells then it will stretch farther.

 

[Skyleen13]

I, too, have that 50# bag of crushed oyster shells, but I also use my girls' eggshells and zap them in the microwave for about a minute, maybe longer. Once I have several, I grind them up with a mortar and pestle (wish I had a mini blender.....). I put the oyster shell and the ground eggshells in a little ceramic dish, one for each run. My girls have this available, free-choice, since I feed a Flock Raiser feed.

Thank you!

 

[Skyleen13]

Eggs shells fed back will replace a bit of the calcium they need, but never enough, and may not be available to the hen at 3am (about) when she's laying down the shell on that day's egg. Offer oyster shell anyway, and then the egg shells are a bonus.
Mary

Thank you! Will try a 50x50. Half oyster & half egg shell.

 

[Skyleen13]

Eggs shells MIGHT have enough supplemental calcium if you give your hens layer feed with calcium in it. If you give them all flock, I'd go with oyster shell - you need to remember, if you're only putting back what comes out (calcium-wise), you're losing calcium, since no animal is 100% efficient at processing a nutrient.

A 50 lb bag of oyster shell is $11.99 at TSC. Hard to think of many things you can buy 50 lbs of for cheaper than that!

Thank you!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I’ve only got 11 chickens. 10 hens & 1 roo. They’re not even close to laying yet so I’m stock piling egg shells now. I figure if I do a mix of half egg shells & half oyster shells then it will stretch farther.

50/50 mix should work. With 10 hens, 50 lbs should last a long time.

50 lbs is the way to go...it cost only about twice as much as a 5 lb bag.

 

[Skyleen13]

50/50 mix should work. With 10 hens, 50 lbs should last a long time.

50 lbs is the way to go...it cost only about twice as much as a 5 lb bag.

Got it. Thank you!