⠀ Save the shells?

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kdolly87

kdolly87

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Hey y'all! So someone mentioned to me to save my egg shells powder them and put it in their feed. Anybody else do this? I've been saving and grinding the few egg shells I have gotten. Think it's worth the effort? They get oyster shells anyways.
 
kdolly87 said:
Hey y'all! So someone mentioned to me to save my egg shells powder them and put it in their feed. Anybody else do this? I've been saving and grinding the few egg shells I have gotten. Think it's worth the effort? They get oyster shells anyways.
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Do as you wish. However all the research suggest that eggshells are not a good source of calcium for a hen. Chickens have an entirely different digestive system from mammals like you and I. This means that poultry cannot process tiny-tiny fragments of powered eggshells before they pass through the vent. You can feed eggshells and oyster shells or just oyster shells alone, but just eggshells and no other calcium source will not work.

As a child I had a bad case of chicken pox. I was really sick so my mother remembered an old home remedy. As I laid in bed with a high fever my grand father walked into the sickroom with one of our white leghorn laying hens. He pitched her into the air and she commenced to fly over my bed. I can recall every thing about the scene 60 years later because the poor hen was a little excited and she emptied her bowls mid-air. The idea was that the chickens carried chicken pox to my sick bed so chickens could also take the chicken pox away. Scientifically speaking, feeding eggshells back to your laying hens falls into the realm of this home remedy for chicken pox.

I also feel that Mother Nature was a little concerned so she text-messaged Charles Darwin and they put their heads together and decided that it was best for the future survival of the species that hens didn't develop a life or death craving for eggshells.
 
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chickengeorgeto said:
Do as you wish.  However all the research suggest that eggshells are not a good source of calcium for a hen.  Chickens have an entirely different body from mammals like you and I.  This means that poultry cannot process tiny-tiny fragments of powered eggshells before they pass through the vent.  You can feed eggshells and oyster shells or just oyster shells alone, but just eggshells and no other calcium source will not work.

As a child I had a bad case of chicken pox.  I was really sick so my mother remembered an old home remedy.  As I laid in bed with a high fever my grand father walked into the sickroom with one of our white leghorn laying hens.  He pitched her into the air and she commenced to fly over my bed.  I can recall every thing about the scene 60 years later because the poor hen was a little excited and she emptied her bowls.  The idea was that the chickens carried chicken pox to my sick bed so she could also take the chicken pox away.  Scientifically, feeding eggshells back to your laying hens falls into the realm of this home remedy about chicken pox. 

I also feel that Mother Nature was a little concerned so she text-messaged Charles Darwin and they put their heads together and decided that it was best for the future survival of the species that hens didn't develop a life or death craving for eggshells.
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Hahaha!! That story is fantastic! Yeah it sounded a little (a lot) like an old wives tale. But I did like the thought of using the shells. I don't have a compost bin.. Maybe a mosaic with my daughter? I'll have to look up something interesting to do. Thanks for the info :)
 
kdolly87 said:
Found something fabulous!! Going to make chalk! AHH!!
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Someone wanted to know why I suggested using your left over eggshells to fortify turnip greens. The answer is its just my cussed nature because turnip greens are already one of the richest sources of dietary calcium going.

Calcium gives greens especially turnip greens their bitter taste or flavor. Hence the custom of people of the Hebrew persuasion eating "bitter herbs" during Passover. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
chickengeorgeto said:
Someone wanted to know why I suggested using your left over eggshells to fortify turnip greens.  The answer is its just my cussed nature because turnip greens are already one of the richest sources of dietary calcium going. 

Calcium gives greens especially turnip greens their bitter taste or flavor.  Hence the custom of people of the Hebrew persuasion eating "bitter herbs" during Passover.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 
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Definitely going on my to do list! As well as get a mortar and pestle.
 
bcostley said:
Do you have a link? (I'm not questioning this, just interested in the actual science and I can't find a scientific resource either way on this.)

Thanks
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I will have to re-locate a link because I have already slept, but it was in a study from the poultry program from one of the Land Grant or USDA supported universities. Unfortunately there seems to be at least one such school in every state. I'll get on it but if in don't get back quickly remind me.

If you held a cocked pistol to my head I'd have to say that university in Davis California. I'm from the South so I do much better remembering the football mascots than the school's formal name.

PS: Make that Berkley, California.
 
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