sombody told me chickens need oaster shells do they?

[Barry Natchitoches]

BABY CHICKS do NOT need extra calcium.


Let me repeat that: Baby chicks do NOT need extra calcium !!!


After hens grow old enough to start laying eggs, THEN AND ONLY THEN will they begin to need extra calcium, which is what oyster shell offers them.


But Baby Chicks can actually be HARMED by extra calcium !


Give them enough of it, and you can shut their kidneys down and KILL THEM !


So please, do NOT give BABY chicks extra calcium! The amount in their chicken starter mash will be just right for their little bodies...


But older hens could really use that extra calcium...

 

[dewey]

The egg shells on mine have always been very hard without oyster. I've offered it occasionally throughout the years, but never felt it was needed. Like my others, my new girls shells are so hard they're hard to crack. They get layer feed, greens (a lot of those are purposely grown "weeds" because they take very little water to grow), bugs, any unused eggs with the shells crushed in them, and assorted table scraps and treats. Mostly because I enjoy feeding them these things, not because I feel they're needed.