Shells as calcium supplement

[HenMamma]

We are eating mussels tonight. Do ya think it would be safe to crush the shells and toss them to the girls?

 

[Ridgerunner]

It should work fine. Mussel shells are no harder than oyster shells.

When I could get good mussels, I'd saute a little garlic and onion, them bring a little white wine to boil, then drop in cleaned mussels. When they opened, they were ready.

 

[catwalk]

I just asked this question on another thread, but this one seems relavent as well. Clam shells? I live near several big rivers, and my brother- in- law canoes up and down them all the time. He could provide me with aan unlimited supply of clam shells. Why are we buying only oyster shells? If there's something magical about them, I'll go ahead and "shell" out for them, but I'm really too "cheep" to do it happily. Who can provide me with good news?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Clam shells will also work. They have a high clacium content. Just crush them into small enough pieces so the chickens can handle them. You can also use lobster shells, crawfish shells, crab shells, whatever you have handy. Chickens also get calcium from hard-shelled bugs. That's one reason free-range chickens seldom need a calcium supplement.

Oyster shells are used since they are abundant, hence cheap. You can take a dredge out to a dead oyster reef and fill up several barges easily. The oysters in a live oyster reef are too valuable for them to be dredged. Oyster shell dredging is banned in certain environmentally sensitive areas, like Lake Pontchartrain.

I could go on, but the bottom line is that oyster shells are used because they are cheaper and easier to get than other shells.