Substitute for oyster shells and grit????

[buckbeak]

I use mussel and clam shells. It is not labor intensive. I put them into a couple of ziplock bags & wrap into an old towel. Then I repeatedly run over them with my car until the shells are in small pieces, ready to give to the chickens.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

Why worry about baking egg shells?

Ditto ! I don't clean, bake, crush my egg shells. (and NO, it doesn't create eggeaters). I keep a pan by the kitchen sink that gets ALL leftovers (including bones). I feed it to my chickens regularly and they enjoy the variety. They don't leave much behind.​

 

[Kath O]

Great Idea. Thanks

 

[Kath O]

Thank you all for taking time to help me with my feathered friends. I just contacted a woman that makes quiches for a living. I should have more than enough egg shells. Also, I will be feeding the greens suggested. Wow, this site is wonderful!

 

[dretd]

Where in Mexico do you live? Many rocks are made of Calcium Carbonate and Aragonite is a crystalline form of that mineral found on some beaches. It is sand from crushed coral skeletons. If you are coastal, you may be able to gather the sand and leave it out for them.

and good luck with your chickens!!

 

[triplepurpose]

You don't need grit unless they are caged--they can swallow dirt and little rocks and things, just like wild birds do. Calcium isn't an issue unless the shells of the eggs are very thin. Normally with a balanced diet, you won't have any issues, but it's easy enough to feed them eggshells (i personaly crush them, but don't bother to bake, a waste of time and energy IMO). Also snail shells and such, if need be. Buena suerte.

 

[ChicKat]

Interesting to think of not cooking egg shells before crushing and feeding... but consier that bacteria are microscopic, and egg white and warm weather would be a good growth medium for the bacteria to coloinze. All chickens have a few salmonella bacteria -- right? But not enough to be a big problem, that is why food service so carefully always washes everything that comes in contact with raw eggs, or raw chicken... Including hands, counters, cutting boards, knives...etc.


By not cooking them, more bacteria could be fed to chickens.

for example, I read that the shells of hatched chicks should never be fed, because for 21 days cultures of bacteria have been growing on the shell.

I always zap my egg shells in the microwave for about 1 and 1/2 minutes. They are easier to crush---and I feel that any bacteria cultures that could have been growing in the warm/hot weather will be wiped out. It is pretty easy and effortless.... so why not?

 

[triplepurpose]

Quote:
I feel compelled to add though, the perspective that not all bacteria are harmful. Actually, most aren't, but many people still use the word "bacteria" as if it were "Satan." There are bacteria on EVERYTHING anyway, including your own body, the bulk weight of which is made up of microorganisms which colonize our insides and outsides, help keep our immune systems healthy, and help us to digest food, etc., and which we quite simply couldn't live without. Many types of bacteria are actually beneficial, if not essential to ingest--eating completely sterile food is, aside from being unrealistic, somewhat unhealthy. This is a fact of life, not just some crack-pot theory.

So it makes no sense to me to worry about the bacteria on an eggshell--especially when we are talking about feeding them to an animal that never bathes and regularly consumes traces of its own poop. Like us, chickens NEED some bacteria in their diet. And BTW mother hens often eat the shells after their babies hatch--and I'm sure they don't bake them in an oven first. IF the eggshells come from some unknown foreign source, especially a large-scale factory farm, then you might consider sterilizing them because those types of operations and their irresponsible practices are a hotbed of disease potential--although the odds of picking up something nasty even in these cases is pretty slim, especially since most large operations wash and sterilize their eggs before distribution. But I only feed my chickens the shells from their own eggs.

I have never baked eggshells to feed to the chickens (actually, not true, I tried once just to see if it would make them easier to crush and store, and finally dismissed it as being a waste of time and propane). Some things are worth worrying about, others aren't... If it works for you, then great. But IMO it's silly to do it purely out of an irrational and misplaced fear of germs....

And by the way I eat raw eggs, and homemade products with raw egg, from my own chickens from time to time too... I find them tasty and nourishing. Chance are that with all the exposure I've had to chickens and chicken manure over the years, I've already developed a resistence to any strains of salmonella that might be in the flock, and besides even so my chances of getting sick from this are much lower than my chances of dying in a car accident. Like I said, some things just aren't worth worrying about...

 

[Laigaie]

As an aside about eggshells and bacteria, particularly Salmonella: Infected eggs are extremely rare. One study cites "On average... one out of every 20,000 chicken eggs contains a small amount of salmonella that is deposited into the sac by the hen." These are hens who are infected with salmonella in their ovaries or oviducts. The other half of eggs that get infected with salmonella are infected when the coating is washed off the eggs in dirty water. The chances that your hen is infected are very slim (compared to the already slim chances in a factory producer), and if you don't wash your eggs, that takes care of the rest of the salmonella. I do understand that eggshells, once open and exposed to air, will tend to accumulate bacteria. It's just as simple to put the eggshells back into the carton and into the fridge, where bacterial growth is slowed. Better yet, store them in the freezer, so they're easy to crush later. At this time of year, there's no reason to turn on the oven for anything short of a good meal.

 

[jnkir7]

one of my girls lays a egg that is not a very good shell,what can i do other than extra calcium which i give free choice i even grind it and add it to there layer crumbles, are some hens just gonna have porus, shells. janie