Poultry Grit and Oyster Shells??

[denimangle]

Quote:
Thanks this is really great info ..
My eggs are nice and smooth . got my first big egg today been getting 2 small eggs from 2 of the girls Now if the other 3 would start laying.
Cheryl

 

[banter]

Oyster shell is very inexpensive and they won't eat it if they don't need it,
at least mine don't. Grit is necessary for their gizzard to grind up their food.

 

[denimangle]

Well I went out to check feed and there was another little egg ...

3 out of 5 now ...

Our TS store has been out of OS maybe this week I can pick some up
Cheryl

 

[digitS']

Quote:
I'm afraid we are hijacking the thread a little here - sorry, Makern12.

Pilgrims doesn't bother to tell us much about their feed online, that I could see, Cheryl. 'Cept: "This feed can be fed as a sole diet for mature layers."

Calcium? The gov'ment recommends that layer feed has 3.4% at minimum, I believe. The percentage should be on your feed tag.

Nutrient Requirements of Chickens has the tables . . .

Steve

 

[denimangle]

Sorry for the HIJACK

It has 3.75% calcium .. so I guess im ok there
Thanks for the link ..

 

[RonB]

I feed the shells back to the hens all the time. I haven't had any trouble with them wanting to eat the eggs they lay. Occasionally I get a rubber or no shell egg and they will eat this if I let them. They do have access to oyster shell at all times. They don't touch the grit when I put it out. They must get enough when they free range. which is about two hours a day.

I have heard that you should boil or bake the shells before you give them back to the chickens. Any of you do this????????????????????? I don't

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
I do bake and/or boil my shells. If i were giving them directly back to my chickens, i wouldn't, but i store them in jars, and i don't want anything "extra" growing in there.

Mine free range all day every day with very few exceptions, and their egg shells are spectacular so i only feed back the shells from time to time. I think they get a lot of calcium from the bugs, etc.

I've never used grit, so i think i must have pretty rocky soil too.

 

[acid_chipmunk]

I rinse my shells out and then stick them in the oven next to the light for a while to dry them out. Then, whir them around in the blender and keep them in an old PB container. My girls have never eaten their eggs from my giving them the shells back. Of course, they are little itty, bitty pieces and have no trace of actual egg left.

We have also bought a 50 lb bag of oyster shell and give them that too.

We don't give them grit, because they free range during the day and don't touch the grit if we leave it out.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I have an old baking pan that I keep in my oven for egg shells. Whenever I have any I toss them into the pan. When the oven is in use I take the pan out then put it back in after the oven is turned off to let the residual heat dry them out. I'm not doing it to cook them, but to just dry them enough so they can be crushed. When the pan is full I have a #10 can I dump the shells into then crush them with a potato masher. When the can is full I take it out to the feed room where I mix then shells into the hen feed.

.....Alan.

 

[digitS']

Wow!

Year old thread . . .

S'