Sun dried eggs & shells

[StephieSky]

I got an email and the gist of it was this:

I can take the eggs the hens lay, break them into shallow dishes so they're about 1/4" deep in the bottom of the dish after being lightly beaten, set them in the sun to dry ( Drying takes 2 to 4 days of sunny weather ) and then once dried so they crumble when handled, crush into a fine powder with a pestle and mortar or rolling pin.

Put the dried powder in a mason jar, cap and store in a cool dry place for up to 4 months. 1 heaping teaspoon full is = to 1 egg.
To reconstitute soak the powder with water or milk 1 hour prior to use for making scrambled eggs, omelets, cakes or whatever else you're cooking.
Or, feed the powder back to your hens, which is what I'm planning to do. If its safe for people it should be safe for the hens. Unless there is some reason having them eat all of their eggs might be a bad thing. (?)

Should I reconstitute it first or just add the powder to their crumble? Feed it in a separate dish from their crumble? Offer it as scrambled eggs in the morning? I'm going to sun dry the shells, crush and feed them back also. How would be best to go about this?

Most everything I'm reading centers on how to keep your chickens from eating eggs and I need to know the best way to get them to eat eggs now that they're not doing it on their own. I was going to give the eggs away but I keep reading its good for them to have eggs in their diet (?)

 

[Den in Penn]

No reason you couldn't feed them the dried eggs. The basic thing about feeding chickens things other then their prepared feed is, if humans can eat it chickens can too. You could feed it to them either reconstitute or mixed dry into the feed. You also could mix it with the feed and wet the whole mixture. They start out in the egg before they hatch and the only thing they have to feed on is egg. So yes eggs are good, but they don't need to have them all back.

 

[StephieSky]

Thanks

I don't eat animal products. Oh, I'm not a committed vegan. Every so often I crave something and I'll just go out and eat it without making a fuss. Unless its commercial products or by products. Knowing what I know about the industry, I just can't possibly.

I thought I might try some of Gracie and Liza's eggs but I'm kind of debating that still lol Its been a long time.
They told me Grace and Eliza are egg eaters and not to expect ANY eggs unless I was right on top of the nest box when they laid them. Wel, I was actually quite happy to hear that and was that ever WRONG! I don't know what planet that guy is on but neither hen has touched an egg since they she got here. The only egg they've eaten are the two I've scrambled up with the shells for their breakfast. And silly Gracie lays every day like clockwork! Even when I was moving stuff around trying to get the inside of the kennel fixed up she threw a fit and jumped in the nest box while I was the only thing holding it up! She's an egg laying demon when she's determined to lay her egg.
Eliza has only lain twice but she's also much quieter than Gracie and more prone to be shy about new things. Unless its something in my juice cup lol I just hope she's not a daily layer when she gets cozy.

So I already have a bunch of eggs in the fridge. I wasn't going to collect them while I was waiting to see if they'd eat them and then I read someplace on here that they might still be fertile for weeks even after the rooster is not around! I rushed out and collected them all. I think I have a perfect balance between destruction and assistance in the garden with 2 chickens. Besides Grace and Liza are very sweet and don't tear things up at all.

I'm glad to hear I can feed them all back to Gracie & Liza I'm thinking I'll feed them back slowly at first. Getting enough stored up so I can feed them year round even if they stop laying for a few months. And feed them all they want when they molt. I have my morning tea with them on the side patio every morning at sunrise so I'll start their day with the mealworms and save the egg for when they get kenneled at sunset to warm their little tummys up by scrambling it with some spinach.