Oyster shell

[anniebethj]

How do you get your chickens to eat oyster shell? If I leave it separate, they won't touch it, and if I mix it in with the food, they throw all the food out of the feeder so they can pick around it. I'm really tired of broken shells! Some of them are so thin and fragile, that they break in the nest. I don't know what to do. Any ideas?

 

[2DogsFarm]

How old are you hens?
Mine wouldn't eat the oyster shell until they had been laying for a while.
Now I just keep a dish of oyster shell filled & they eat what they want.

You can also feed plain yogurt for extra calcium.
And feed them back their own eggshells - crumbled.
I scramble eggs for my girls, shells & all.

 

[imthedude]

your lay ration should have some calcium in it. i offered oyster shell twice. it got knocked over and spilled both times and was never touched. i never put it out after that and have never had a problem with soft-shelled eggs.

 

[snowflake]

If you use a layer feed it has enough calcium and they may not eat extra oyster shell. If you feed flock raiser or some other feed they should have oyster shell but all you need to do is leave a dish of it out if they need it they will eat it. They seem to know what they need. just like grit. I leave a big pan in the coop in winter some times they eat a lot other times very little

 

[babyrnlc]

We use their shells and any store bought shells crumbled and microwaved (cause I read not to let them eat raw eggs so they wont get a taste for it.). We have strong eggs.

 

[anniebethj]

We do feed a layer food. They aren't "soft shell", just very thin and fragile. Half of them are 15 months, and the other half are around 10 months. They started out nice and thick, had to really hit them hard to crack them, now they will sometimes crack open if I hold them too tight while washing them.

Maybe there is something else missing from their diet? They used to also have a very strong membrane around the yolk, I had to stab them with a fork before I could scramble them. Now it's very very hard to flip a fried egg without the yolk breaking open. Very disappointing, as there's nothing yummier than toast dipped in ooey gooey yolk.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I use their egg shells, crumbled up to the size of typical oyster shell. Whenever I notice the eggs getting thin, I put some in a seperate container and they scarf them down. Maybe there si something wrong with your oyster shell? that doesn't seem likely. maybe try their shells to see if they will eat them and then mix in some oyster shell. Just make sure you break them down good so they don't get any ideas about their eggs.

Also, what is the protein content of the food you give them?

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Quote:

 

[gmendoza]

I mix mine in the food.I put 6 teaspoons of it in a 1/2 gallon of food sort of ratio. I also put 2 teaspoons of grit in it.Seems ok.

For fiesta days( getting rid of mice and deworming) I put 10 teaspoons of red pepper and 5 teaspoons of raw minced garlic in their food.

 

[dragonlair]

Mine refused the oyster shells too, I guess they don't like sea food. I use their eggs, dried and crushed. I mix it in with their pellets and they eat it. I was having a horrid time with their brittle thin shells too until they started eating the egg shells. In the winter i also add Vit D3 pills to their water to help absorb the calcium, because there really isn't much sun up here in the winter.