My chickens wont eat eggshell??

[Shiyanne]

Is that even normal? Ive tried broken in lil pieces and crushed to almost nothing... They peck it and spit it out... 5 hours later its still in chicken run.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

How old are your chickens?

 

[redsix]

Is that even normal? Ive tried broken in lil pieces and crushed to almost nothing... They peck it and spit it out... 5 hours later its still in chicken run.

If you really want them to eat egg shells, try mixing them in their food. I was always afraid to feed them egg shells for fear of getting them started eating eggs. I use crushed oyster shells.

 

[dogkahuna]

I don't like wasting calcium, so I save and crush all the shells we accumulate and add them to leftovers from our fridge--our food is as irresistible to our chickens as it is to our dogs! We pulverize the shells into tiny bits so as not to encourage egg-pecking.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

If you really want them to eat egg shells, try mixing them in their food. I was always afraid to feed them egg shells for fear of getting them started eating eggs. I use crushed oyster shells.

egg shell use for calcium will not cause egg eating, the form is so changed that there is no association between the shell pieces and the eggs in the nest box

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Calcium is taken in on an "as needed" basis - whether in egg shell, oyster shell, or other form (sidenote - it has been shown that the absorpable calcium in egg shell is considerably lower than that of oyster shell) -- meaning it may be days between intakes by any given bird or a bird may take in calcium daily. I find it easier to put my calcium supplement of choice (I use oyster shell with egg shell mixed in as I have it) in a container/feeder near the feed/water station (also a separate grit container) so that it is protected from the elements and readily available to the birds so that they can have it whenever they need/want.

 

[Shiyanne]

How old are your chickens?

8 months to a year

 

[Shiyanne]

Ok. Bc i have read on here that some chickens eat thier own eggs to people throwing eggs in and chickens gobble em up to crush them... So altho i dont want them to eat their own eggs, i do want them to b healthy... So was just wondering if they were as wierd as me or just mutated aliens or ??? Lol. So i tried putting with their food all crushed up but they ate everything except eggs lol.. Sooo ill try to crush it to dust or break down and buy oyster shell...

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Ok. Bc i have read on here that some chickens eat thier own eggs to people throwing eggs in and chickens gobble em up to crush them... So altho i dont want them to eat their own eggs, i do want them to b healthy... So was just wondering if they were as wierd as me or just mutated aliens or ??? Lol. So i tried putting with their food all crushed up but they ate everything except eggs lol.. Sooo ill try to crush it to dust or break down and buy oyster shell...

That should be fine. Sometimes chickens just don't want them, though. Don't worry about it.

 

[Shiyanne]

Ok thank u guys