Oyster shells - necessary?

[PirateGirl]

This article was very interesting, thank you! I still have one question, though. If oyster shell is the best source of calcium for laying hens, why feed egg shells at all?

Incidentally, I have always offered OS to my hens, never shells, and they do fine on it. In nine years we have had only one rubber egg, and one double yolk, probably from a nearly spent hen. The shells are so hard I have to give them a pretty good whack, sometimes two, to crack them. I don't think they need any additional calcium!

Honestly, I'm in the camp of I'd rather chickens eat the scraps (eggshells and others) than they go to the landfill. I like to think they are of some nutritional benefit to them, but they might not be. Even things that are biodegradable (like food scraps) do not biodegrade in a landfill due to the ecology of it all. The ducks seem to genuinely enjoy the eggshells and get very excited when I bring out a fresh bowl, the chickens less so.

 

[Mosey2003]

This article was very interesting, thank you! I still have one question, though. If oyster shell is the best source of calcium for laying hens, why feed egg shells at all?

It makes people happy, lol.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

It makes people happy, lol.

Well, that's a good reason, lol! Thanks!