Offering Calcium to my chickens: Buying oyster shell online: What brands do you recommend?

[Carolyn252]

I want to buy crushed oyster shell online in the most cost effective package. I only have six laying hens, so a fifteen pound bag should last a few months at least, I think. Even though it's high in calcium, I don't want to use crushed limestone, because it's insoluable and not as readily absorbed for use by the hens' gut. I've offered both to my chickens, and they very much prefer the oyster shell. The oyster shell in their bowl is a mixture of fine powder and bits the size of peppercorns or tiny peas. They definitely prefer the bits and don't eat the powdered stuff.

(FYI, always available they have a big bowl of Purina Layena Plus with added Omega. And every evening, I serve them each about a quarter cup mixture of organic scratch and Farmer's Helper Ultra Kibble.)

I can't remember where I bought the oyster shell I've used thus far, and don't have the packaging anymore either. There are so many brands available online, at ebay, and at amazon.com, but some of the customer reviews are awful, and some of the photographs of the product show it to be either a fine powder or big hunks of flakes or gray colored bits. I want the milk-white bits of oyster shell. ANY RECOMMENDATIONS??????

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

I can imagine shipping would be very expensive as oyster shell is very heavy.

I buy mine in a 50 lb bag from Tractor Supply. Its much cheaper to buy the big bag than the little ones.

 

[FVRM]

I just give them their own crushed eggshells to eat. They eat them just fine

 

[Fred's Hens]

It's literally dirt cheap at a farm store. The weight would preclude shipping it anywhere.

 

[Carolyn252]

There's only one feed store in my area, selling fifty pound bags. Just want about 15 pounds and, believe it or not, some of the online sites offer free shipping. But I don't like the look of some of it (gray flakes) in the online photographs, and some of the customer reviews of one of the brands said that the stuff smelled like moth balls.

So: anyone recommend brand name and online source for white colored, oyster shell bits, available online in ten or fifteen pound bags?

 

[LindaB220]

There's only one feed store in my area, selling fifty pound bags. Just want about 15 pounds and, believe it or not, some of the online sites offer free shipping. But I don't like the look of some of it (gray flakes) in the online photographs, and some of the customer reviews of one of the brands said that the stuff smelled like moth balls.

So: anyone recommend brand name and online source for white colored, oyster shell bits, available online in ten or fifteen pound bags?

Carolyn, buy it at your feed store. Looking on Amazon I found a bunch of it but up to $20 per 5-10 lbs. Most of these shells are gray. Use what you want and put the rest in your walkway or driveway. Unless you have prime on Amazon you still have to pay shipping. Unreal prices. Save the extra money for feed.