OYSTER SHELLS

[rosemarythyme]

Can i find real oyster shells somewhere and crush those???

I answered on your other thread, but all the oyster shell I use is simply flaked/crushed shell. Currently using Small Pet Select, previously used Scratch & Peck but switched due to store inventory issues.

 

[Kiki]

Hey aart, i will try all of that! Thank you for taking the time! Todays biggest concern tho, is, 3 inches of water in run after constant, heavy rains all night! Never a dull moment

What a nice picture.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

What a nice picture.

Thanks kiki! We hung out on the covered porch until the flood receded from the run! Lol

 

[ChickNanny13]

I use the manna pro oyster shells and my 5 GLW's dont touch it. They are 1 yr old and one gal gave me a soft egg (first one ever), so i am trying new things. I think i need to find a place where i can get real oysters and crush the shells myself. Would this suffice? These manna pro shells look SO fake! And why so super white in color??

Try Amazon = Scratch & Peck has 100% Oyster Shells. I also keep the "dust" and sprinkle on their feed, then I found there's a Oyster Powder. It's fine like flour, used as a supplement for garden.

 

[utefan47]

We hadv the girls on layer feed but then had a molt marathon and a broodie hatch a chick so switched Flock Raiser with the calcium "pea rocks" as a supplement. A few of the girls didn't like the placement of the calcium bowl and started to have thinner eggs so I moved the bowl ten feet and now they eat it. Go figure We also crush egg shells back to them. 8 minutes on bake in a toaster oven and smash them up. The girls love them.

Hi. Thank you for the toaster oven recipe . I'm new. 17 week old hens. Need to get oyster shell going. I use scratch and peck brands and will use their oyster shell, but in trying to control.costs how much per day does each need or eat? Of oyster shell and/or egg shell. Thank you.

 

[3KillerBs]

Hi. Thank you for the toaster oven recipe . I'm new. 17 week old hens. Need to get oyster shell going. I use scratch and peck brands and will use their oyster shell, but in trying to control.costs how much per day does each need or eat? Of oyster shell and/or egg shell. Thank you.

I just offer the oystershell free choice. Sometimes they eat it and sometimes they don't. They know what they need.

 

[rosemarythyme]

but in trying to control.costs how much per day does each need or eat? Of oyster shell and/or egg shell. Thank you.

They don't tend to eat a lot of it, though some girls will need more than others. I have 10 birds, I buy a 10 lb bag of oyster shell maybe once a year? Maybe even less than that, since I still have half my bag from last year. If you're feeding layer feed, they'll likely need less added calcium (and if starter, grower etc, they'll eat more of it).

 

[SpicyDisaster]

Hi. Thank you for the toaster oven recipe . I'm new. 17 week old hens. Need to get oyster shell going. I use scratch and peck brands and will use their oyster shell, but in trying to control.costs how much per day does each need or eat? Of oyster shell and/or egg shell. Thank you.

I free feed so I'm not exactly sure, since supplementing with egg shells I haven't really kept track. We've gone through 10lbs of oyster shell for 12-16 hens in the last 10 months in addition to the eggs shells. I just save what we eat and bake them though our consumption depends on production levels. I've been selling 18 dozen a month so we have roughly 4 dozen that we eat a month right now. They are a potential migraine trigger so I haven't eaten eggs in three months First food in testing out once I'm off the restriction.

 

[Cackel Shack]

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 don't know if anyone has mentioned this option to you or not, (your post is a few months old), but what I do to provide calcium to my chickens is save their shells after eating an egg or egg. After you get a few saved, put them in the oven to bake on a flat pan for a few minutes at 350 degrees. This causes the shells to get brittle. Allow them to cool, then crush with a potato masher and feed the bits of shells back to the hens. They will gobble up the shells and get natural calcium from their own egg shells.

 

[3KillerBs]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this option to you or not, (your post is a few months old), but what I do to provide calcium to my chickens is save their shells after eating an egg or egg. After you get a few saved, put them in the oven to bake on a flat pan for a few minutes at 350 degrees. This causes the shells to get brittle. Allow them to cool, then crush with a potato masher and feed the bits of shells back to the hens. They will gobble up the shells and get natural calcium from their own egg shells.

This is a good practice, but they still need additional calcium beyond recycling their own shells.