SteveE
Songster
I've tried various ways to serve eggshells to my girls.
When I bake something else, I will throw in whatever shells have accumulated at 400 for 10 min. After they cool I have a beat up rectangular cake pan..... on top of that a beat up cookie cooling rack with 1/2 mesh.... on top of that 1/4" hardware cloth. I use a 3" wide rolling pin to crush them until the fall through the 1/4" mesh.
Then its a matter of feeding. I opted to feed them from a feeder because I never really remembered to mix it with daily food or scratch, and I kinda wanted to know how fast they use it. I tried a couple different feeders (PVC tube, bottle and tuna fish can) but more shell was blasted out on the ground from pecking than went in the birds. Also the bottle I used had too narrow a neck and tended to get blocked up.
One day at my recycle yard I spotted a "Maker's Mark" brand bourbon whiskey bottle. It had a pleasing shape, with a nice tapering but wide neck. So from my pile of salvaged pallet wood I pieced together a new feeder. This one works great. The "dish" part is a maple syrup bottle cut on my band saw and smoothed out with a mini sanding drum in a Dremel. The egg shells still blast when the girls peck but the high sides of the container keep it there.
I took photos after bringing it back in for a slap-dash application of finish. Creating a holder to position the not-square bottle was interesting. The design is intentionally tool free, except for attaching the unit's back to the wall of the coop.
When I bake something else, I will throw in whatever shells have accumulated at 400 for 10 min. After they cool I have a beat up rectangular cake pan..... on top of that a beat up cookie cooling rack with 1/2 mesh.... on top of that 1/4" hardware cloth. I use a 3" wide rolling pin to crush them until the fall through the 1/4" mesh.
Then its a matter of feeding. I opted to feed them from a feeder because I never really remembered to mix it with daily food or scratch, and I kinda wanted to know how fast they use it. I tried a couple different feeders (PVC tube, bottle and tuna fish can) but more shell was blasted out on the ground from pecking than went in the birds. Also the bottle I used had too narrow a neck and tended to get blocked up.
One day at my recycle yard I spotted a "Maker's Mark" brand bourbon whiskey bottle. It had a pleasing shape, with a nice tapering but wide neck. So from my pile of salvaged pallet wood I pieced together a new feeder. This one works great. The "dish" part is a maple syrup bottle cut on my band saw and smoothed out with a mini sanding drum in a Dremel. The egg shells still blast when the girls peck but the high sides of the container keep it there.
I took photos after bringing it back in for a slap-dash application of finish. Creating a holder to position the not-square bottle was interesting. The design is intentionally tool free, except for attaching the unit's back to the wall of the coop.
