oyster shell

[seminolewind]

I have a bag of oyster shell, I can't understand how those pieces wouldn't hurt a chicken, and how they would get calcium from them. I have tried to mash them with a hammer, and I can barely break them that way-how would a chicken digest them?

 

[chickensforever]

I always buy my oyster shells pre-smashed from the feed store and ready for the hens. They're still about just under a quarter inch in diameter and they've never had trouble digesting. If you're talking about whole oyster shells though, I don't know how you would smash them.

 

[seminolewind]

That's what I'm talking about-pre smashed. The pieces are just under a quarter inch, but they are sharp, and I don't see how a chicken would digest it.

 

[rdranch]

I give mine the same thing and they peck it into fine pieces to eat. There is always a layer of tiny pieces on top and all of them do peck at it when I'm in the coop. I used to just put it in with their feed, but I have since made a separate dispenser that hangs on one of the walls and they go through much more now than before. The eggs have never been better.

 

[devora]

The stuff I get freaked me out when I bought it so posted this pic and others said “A-OK” and, as so often, they were right. My girls love this stuff and it is huge and sharp and ya’d never think they could eat it unharmed….but they dig it and their shells are hard as the dickens!

 

[silkiechicken]

They eat it and it sits in their crops and gizzard. It gets ground away from the rocks they ingest.