OYSTER SHELLS

[kmart60]

How do you prepare/process the shells for the chicken consumption?
Got pics?

Bake them in the oven for a bit, then put on our safety glasses and smash 'em with hammers. At a later time though, not straight after guzzling wine, there would be safety issues.
What sort of pics? My crushed shells, or me consuming oysters and wine?

 

[aart]

What sort of pics? My crushed shells

Yes.
Wondering about sharp points and size.

 

[kmart60]

Yes.
Wondering about sharp points and size.

What we've crushed up to date was poured into our OS tube with some commercial stuff we bought when we first got the chookies, I think it's been all eaten. Nobody died.
We smashed it up until no pieces were bigger than 0.5 cm, but the majority smaller than that. We thought that creatures that were clever enough to know they needed to chow down on calcium would spit out anything too big or sharp.
We've accumulated a bucketful thanks to Xmas/New Year/summer celebrations, so need to have another smash party soon.

 

[raingarden]

This stuff from Amazon is pieces that are like 0.5 cm. Too big I think.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07R24KH76?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

[rosemarythyme]

This stuff from Amazon is pieces that are like 0.5 cm. Too big I think.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07R24KH76?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details&th=1

My flock disagrees, they've been eating it readily. The bigger pieces mean it's less dusty than the oyster shell I was using before.

 

[kmart60]

We've accumulated a bucketful thanks to Xmas/New Year/summer celebrations, so need to have another smash party soon.

We really like oysters.
And wine. We really, really, really like wine.

 

[Perris]

You might be interested in knowing the different kinds of calcium there are. Oyster shell is exactly the same kind of calcium as egg shells - calcium carbonate. It's one of three kinds of calcium and is highest in calcium. It doesn't matter if the calcium carbonate is from an oyster shell washed up on the beach or in a bag of "manufactured" oyster shell or a bag of real oyster shells crushed.

Here's my tutorial:

There are three different sources of calcium, all different, all digested and absorbed at varying rates of effectiveness. The most common source is calcium carbonate. This is what egg shells, oyster shell, and calcite derived calcium supplements are. It's the highest in calcium, but it's the most difficult to digest and absorb. Some hens absorb it so slowly and inefficiently that it's not able to adequately supply their shell gland. So, they often produce shell-less eggs or very thin shell eggs.

The second kind of calcium is calcium gluconate. It comes from fruits and vegetables. It's not very high in calcium and still hard to digest and absorb.

The third kind of calcium is calcium citrate. It's the by-product of the manufacturing process of making citric acid. This form of calcium is very easy to digest and absorb. For this reason, it works much, much faster than the other two types of calcium. This is the form of calcium that's best to use when a hen is having reproductive issues from the relatively minor one of shell quality to the most serious and life threatening one of egg binding.

One calcium citrate tablet with vitamin D given right into the beak once a day until the issue is resolved is what I strongly recommend. Here's what to buy. View attachment 2978336

Calcium citrate is not meant for daily use as a calcium source, only a temporary intense calcium boost in a reproductive crisis. Good quality oyster shell is still the very best source of calcium you can provide for laying hens. But be sure they're getting the large oyster shell particles and not the powdery residue left in the bottom of the container as it runs through a hens system much too fast to be properly absorbed. The larger particles remain much longer in the digestive tract allowing for much greater absorption. This will help to assure your hen is keeping her calcium stores topped off and will have less tendency to have egg issues.

This is really informative; thanks!
Do you know what kind of calcium is in milk? Is milk of any use to give a quick calcium boost in an emergency?

 

[Chicken poppy]

I have NOT been able to find "crushed" Oyster Shells here on the Big Island/Hawaii ... Have had to resort to the "manufactured" Oyster Shells/Coral (white pea sized). That's all that's being sold here at WalMart and the feed stores (only 2 on this side of the Island). My girls (3) have been laying and provided with the white stuff since they started laying Aug 2020. One of them started laying a funny shaped egg since Dec 2020, like it's having difficulty coming out/gets stuck. On the 8th of this month, she laid a soft shelled egg, an other the week after, two last week.

I have always fed the crushed shells in the past but been told by the workers at the feed store, it's Covid & they haven't been able to get any. I found "crushed" OS on Amazon (Scratch & Peck), I purchased just as an experiment. It's been a week and since feeding them the crushed, she hasn't laid any soft shelled eggs plus yesterday I noticed her egg shape is back to normal.

So my question to all of you ... What kind of Oyster Shells are you feeding; crushed or "white peas"? Have you noticed any difference with egg shells?
I was going to cull her thinking it was her reproductive system starting to be an issue, she'll be a year in March and I've never had this issue before. I'm on the fence deciding to keep her & maybe it is the OS or send her to my friend when she thins out her flock next month. Your opinions/advice always welcomed ...

Thank you all in advance
Pic of Dove's odd shaped eggs ...

@aart @azygous @casportpony @Eggcessive @Kiki @rosemarythyme @ @Wyorp Rock

I think you can feed the shell crushed back to them IF you feed them it back, i do it occasionally! If you happen to, note you can feed the shell back aswell. Im vegan so dont eat eggs, so they get the eggs back for the most part, but i do deliver a good dozen to my neighbors because what better way to bribe their silence for a roosters non stop crow?

 

[Perris]

I'm fortunate to live somewhere that I can collect oyster shells from the beach, and I tried the DIY method of preparing them, but the chooks at the time weren't keen. I am now wondering if perhaps they were salty and I should have rinsed them better. Inspired by this thread, I think I'll have another go (when the two storms about to blow in have passed on and hopefully left plenty of oyster shells strewn over the beach )

 

[raingarden]

It just occurred to me that they used to burn oyster shell in a lime kiln that looked like a wood-fired chimney or blast furnace. It would get up to about a thousand degrees. The burnt shell would turn to lime powder. The lime was mixed with sand, water, ash and unburnt oyster shell to make Tabby. Tabby is a crude type of concrete. It was first used by the Spanish in St. Augustine, Florida and then in the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic where there are large oyster shell resources.

So, the hotter and longer you cook the shell the easier it should be to pulverize.