Oyster Shells?

[nccountrygirl]

you buy it in bags from your feed store, it's already crushed. You can get 5 lbs or 50 lbs. I get 50 lbs, it's cheaper and I have 18 girls.

 

[can you hear me now?]

I get them at the feed store in 50 lb bag. They are already coarlsy ground. As they said now I put them in a separate dish for them to eat as they need it.

 

[n2thestorm5032]

ok when should I start feeding them Oyster Shells

 

[mtnhomechick]

Here in AR. we have a high content of calcium and lyme in the well water. Now that two of my hens have started laying, the shells and membranes are so hard and tough I can hardly crack them and I am considering taking them off of oyster shell..................any opinions?

 

[injunjoe]

Quote:
I am new here but i would say when the girls start to lay.
That is when they will be loosing there calcium.

 

[bills]

Quote:
I figured as well, that the hens would need a calcium supplement when they began laying. I asked the dealer from where I bought my hens, as I was loading up on feed and scratch. He has had chickens for 35 years, so I presumed he knew what he was talking about. He said that as layer feed does contain some calcium, that the birds would not need it until they had layed for about a year. I was quite prepared to buy the oyster shells right then, but he actually dissuaded me from buying them.

Well as it turns out, I did get a few soft shelled, and thin shelled eggs within a few months of the hens beginning to lay. I washed, and dried egg shells, crushed them in a mortice & pestal, then mixed them in with some whole oats, softened with a little warm water. They eggs they layed from that point were firm, and thick. I now keep a small container of crushed egg shells in the coop, as well as mixing some in with treats from time to time, and never had the soft/thin shell problem again.

Just goes to show you, that even though this person had years of experience with hens, perhaps they were of the heritage variety, and not like the "bred to lay" variety sex-links, I have. I can't see how a bird that lays an egg every single day could not need a calcium supplement of sorts.

 

[oldegger]

Quote:
I figured as well, that the hens would need a calcium supplement when they began laying. I asked the dealer from where I bought my hens, as I was loading up on feed and scratch. He has had chickens for 35 years, so I presumed he knew what he was talking about. He said that as layer feed does contain some calcium, that the birds would not need it until they had layed for about a year. I was quite prepared to buy the oyster shells right then, but he actually dissuaded me from buying them.

Well as it turns out, I did get a few soft shelled, and thin shelled eggs within a few months of the hens beginning to lay. I washed, and dried egg shells, crushed them in a mortice & pestal, then mixed them in with some whole oats, softened with a little warm water. They eggs they layed from that point were firm, and thick. I now keep a small container of crushed egg shells in the coop, as well as mixing some in with treats from time to time, and never had the soft/thin shell problem again.

Just goes to show you, that even though this person had years of experience with hens, perhaps they were of the heritage variety, and not like the "bred to lay" variety sex-links, I have. I can't see how a bird that lays an egg every single day could not need a calcium supplement of sorts.

Are you free ranging? If so you would need the extra calcium. I would bet the man with 35 years is feeding laying mash with all the calcium mixed in.
Commercial producers don't have room for buffet style dinning

so everything is in there feed.

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
As far as I know chickens are not "abstract thinkers" enough to make the connection between egg shells and eating eggs. I too just throw the shells back to them unbaked & I too don't have aproblem with egg eating.

 

[Wynette]

Just a sidebar on baking eggshells: I nuke them in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Seems to do the same thing as baking, and doesn't heat up your kitchen & takes less time!