What do you pay for oyster shell and grit?

[BigBlueHen53]

Eggshells alone isn't the best choice though. The benefit of the oyster shell is that it takes longer to grind down, so it's still getting worked on overnight, while they're forming the eggs.

I hate how wasteful mine are about it. I use a baby pig feeder to keep it contained, but they fling a bunch out to find pieces they like best.

Try putting the OS in something like this dog feeder. I think I got this at a yard sale for a couple of bucks. There's not much waste, and I don't have to fill it very often! The white stuff you see on the floor is the shredded paper we use as floor litter and nesting material, and that's grit, of course, in the skillet.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I honestly don't know what I pay for it. I buy it from tractor supply and add anise flavored grit to it.
My question is: How do you get your hens to eat it??? My younger girls eat it fine but my 3 older girls want only recycled, lightly toasted eggs shells with smidgen of yolks on the side. Lol.

You probably won't see them eating it, they don't need much. My guess is if all they had in the way of a calcium supplement was plain OS, they would eat what they need. Like kids, they love treats!

 

[IamRainey]

In the car.

One of these helps too:

https://upcart.com/products/upcart-lift

I'm short and old so I have one in my car and use it all the time!

 

[IamRainey]

Yeah well now I have to make you unappreciate it— too much traffic for me to bike through.


Uhhhhhhh how about those gas prices?

My son pretty much gave up driving in the last year. I'm really proud of him. But when he told me he fell off his bike -- into traffic -- and had to clean himself up and still ride the rest of the way to the office I almost had a heart attack. No, it wasn't that some nice someone seeing him at the drug store he limped into to get some first aid supplies handed him a $20 taking him to be a homeless person (he got pretty roughed up in the fall and he has a long beard -- don't get me started -- and wears jeans to work). It was that he could have been driven over by a car that wasn't able to avoid him as he went down!

It's great that you're doing your part for a cleaner planet! But be CAREFUL out there!

PS Can't remember just who it was but when I was computer surfing yesterday I saw a site that sold 50# bags. The shipping cost probably still makes the volume price pretty decent.

PPS to Everyone Else: Did you know that if you open your driver's side door without looking you could be blocking a cyclist and forcing them into traffic? A bike rider was killed that way and her family started a campaign to get drivers to use their right arm to open the door. If you get in that habit you will be turning backward while you cross your body and that will prompt you to look at what's coming before you swing the door open.

You could save a life by just making that small effort!

 

[janiedoe]

Question: does oyster shell expire? Calcium tablets do, so I would think that oyster shell would lose some of it's nutritional value after a few months, although the stuff I buy doesn't have an expiration date, that I've noticed. That's why I buy it in the 5lb bags.

 

[IamRainey]

Question: does oyster shell expire? Calcium tablets do, so I would think that oyster shell would lose some of it's nutritional value after a few months, although the stuff I buy doesn't have an expiration date, that I've noticed. That's why I buy it in the 5lb bags.

I'm inclined to doubt it. I think manufacturers may be responding to some legal requirement or maybe their "manufactured" product is unstable. But a shell is a shell is a shell. And I can tell you when you put oyster shells or clam shells in a compost pile it takes years and years for them to even show a sign of wear. I keep an iron plate and a small sledge hammer at the pile just to "get them started" for that reason. Even ordinary eggshells remain intact for a long time out there! Plus, the pulverized oyster shell they sell at the gardening store as a soil amendment doesn't have any expiration date and god only knows how long that stuff hangs around on the shelves.

 

[GC-Raptor]

Question: does oyster shell expire?

Oyster Shell and Granite Grit should be good for years. But you want to keep them in a dry temperature stable place. Damp/wet conditions, mold could form.
I keep feed, scratch, shells and grit in a spare room near the back door. . GC