Moldy eggshell. How to store before baking?

[My Three Chicks]

I give my girls their baked eggshells as a calcium supplement along with oyster shells. They love this stuff!

However I noticed today a few pieces had mold growing on them as I got them out to bake.

Right now what I'm doing is once I crack open an egg (and enjoy eating it!), I rinse the eggshell and let it dry on the counter. Then I put it in an airtight plastic container in the fridge. About every couple of months when the container is full I bake a batch.

What am I doing wrong? How do you all store yours before baking?

 

[RojoMarz]

I don't store mine, but would think if you rinse and let them dry, they wouldn't need to be in an airtight container. I also don't think they have to be baked, when I give shells to my girls, I just break them up and toss them in the run.

 

[Brooks_]

I would say that it was not completely dry and suggest looking for a sunny window sill to dry them in/on.

 

[aart]

I rinse mine and just set them to drain/dry, then stack them until I have a couple dozen then crush to mix with Oyster Shell.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Then I put it in an airtight plastic container in the fridge. About every couple of months when the container is full I bake a batch.

What am I doing wrong? How do you all store yours before baking?

It's the fact that you're putting them in the fridge and then waiting for months, it's probably causing condensation to form inside the container.

I use a little toaster oven tray to store shells. Rinse and toss them on the tray. Since the tray is meant for use in an oven I just put the whole tray in while preheating and that bakes them just fine, even if shells were wet going in.

 

[Smokerbill]

Store them in the freezer.

 

[Penpal]

Let them air dry for a couple of days then put them in a little blender. Keep in freezer.