rain water in the calcium

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I was cleaning out the coop... put the calcium 'jug' outside while I swept up, feeling great about the whole cleaned-up space I went on to other things and forgot to bring it back in. So now (of course) in hasn't rained in weeks, but it chose the moment the jug was outside to pour down (tell me God does not have a sense of humor).

does it matter? it is oyster shells, so the powder just made a soup. do I strain it or is it likely to have made bacteria and I need to 'cook them' to clean up the nuggets?

is the liquid any good or is this now only ripe for my composter?

(yeah, next bag of calcium goes into a bucket with a cover instead of a big old water bottle jug)

thanks!

p.s. feel free to laugh at me, it feels good and it helps heart-health to laugh at silly things

 

[azygous]

Keep chickens long enough and you get to experience all these episodes of "duh, did I really do that?"

The problem with oyster shell or limestone getting wet is that it's water soluble and it's dissolving before the hens can consume it, making it far less useful to their bodies.

To get the most aborption from these water soluble calcium sources, they need to remain dry and mostly large particles so they will remain in the hen's digestive tract as long as possible. Once the particles are reduced to powdery residue and especially if it gets wet, it will run through a hen's digestive system too quickly to fully absorb the calcium into their blood stream. Too much of that inferior quality calcium and your hens may become calcium deficient.

Best to toss the gummy mess and chalk it up to a lesson learned. (I think there's a pun in that sentence.)

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

thank you ! I hate to throw things away that are perfectly good, but I was looking at the jug thinking... this... this is compost, not snacks.

their bowls are full anyway, I have time to get to the store to get a new bag.

but gosh I felt like a dope when I saw I put the jug RIGHT at the spot the roof run-off is at it's peak. I could not have PLACED it better if I had wanted to CATCH rainwater!

thank you for giving me permission to just pour it out into the compost.

 

[Aapomp831]

thank you ! I hate to throw things away that are perfectly good, but I was looking at the jug thinking... this... this is compost, not snacks.

their bowls are full anyway, I have time to get to the store to get a new bag.

but gosh I felt like a dope when I saw I put the jug RIGHT at the spot the roof run-off is at it's peak. I could not have PLACED it better if I had wanted to CATCH rainwater!

thank you for giving me permission to just pour it out into the compost.

I would also worry about mold....

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I would also worry about mold....

yeah... rain water is so 'eager' to grow things... I look at it with suspicion

and chickens are SO eager to drink out of nasty puddles!

 

[Aapomp831]

yeah... rain water is so 'eager' to grow things... I look at it with suspicion

and chickens are SO eager to drink out of nasty puddles!

I know! All the effort I put forth to make sure they have clean waterers and fresh water... little buggers

 

[writerskramp]

I was cleaning out the coop... put the calcium 'jug' outside while I swept up, feeling great about the whole cleaned-up space I went on to other things and forgot to bring it back in. So now (of course) in hasn't rained in weeks, but it chose the moment the jug was outside to pour down (tell me God does not have a sense of humor).

does it matter? it is oyster shells, so the powder just made a soup. do I strain it or is it likely to have made bacteria and I need to 'cook them' to clean up the nuggets?

is the liquid any good or is this now only ripe for my composter?

(yeah, next bag of calcium goes into a bucket with a cover instead of a big old water bottle jug)

thanks!

p.s. feel free to laugh at me, it feels good and it helps heart-health to laugh at silly things

So.. It's calcium liquid or solid.. It's all good. Just dump it in bowl. Chicken elixir...Bwahaha Happy now, I aim to please, so please aim.