pdz and eggshells

[fiddlebanshee]

I have a welsumer who is just coming into lay. She laid a shell-less egg on the poopshelf in the pdz. Not a problem the egg was a bit dryer than the other shellless egg I found a couple of weeks ago in the nest box and I attributed that to the drying properties of the pdz that she had laid it in. It still tasted good.

Then today there was another egg (of the same chicken I presume) in the poopshelf. This time it had a shell but it had a very strange whitish dustlike layer on it that stuck to the shell. I could scour it off with a nylon pad but the egg felt very rough after that treatment.

It was not the same consistency as the pdz itself which is granular and which also stuck to the egg, but this was finer and more intrinsic to the calcium of the shell, as it were. Anyone know what the chemicals in pdz do with the calcium of eggshells? Does it spoil the egg? I'm thinking of including it in a batch to sell, or should I keep it for our own consumption and/or discard it? It looked to me as if some chemical reaction was taking place maybe dissolving some of the calcium of the shell?

Anyone had this experience?

 

[fiddlebanshee]

I thought I'd give an update. I emailed sweetpdz company and they responded with the following email:

Thank you very much for your inquiry and question. We can assure you that there are no health or safety issues with any eggs that come in contact with Sweet PDZ. (The same is true with your chickens or hens coming in contact with Sweet PDZ. It is an inert mineral.) Simply wash/clean your eggs as you normally would to remove dirt and bacteria. The Sweet PDZ didn’t react to the calcium, but more likely the super fine particles of Sweet PDZ probably stuck to the egg shell as a result of the eggshell’s moisture content. Sweet PDZ is hygroscopic. It then took on a unique texture and look.

To ease your concerns to a greater degree, I’ll make you aware that Sweet PDZ’s singular ingredient is natural zeolite. More specifically, clinoptilolite, zeolite. This is the description you will find on the ingredient label of Sweet PDZ packaging. Our Sweet PDZ clinoptilolite, zeolite is a feed grade mineral, and there are those backyard chicken folks that do feed it at a ratio of 1%-2% of the bird diet. Some commercial poultry have and continue to feed it as well.

I hope this answers your question, however if not or if you would like to further discuss it please do not hesitate to call us on our toll-free line, 800.367.1534.

Thank you for using our Sweet PDZ refresher product, and putting it to use in such a clever way.