When can I feed my chickens eggshells?

[loobell]

Hi,
I have 12 week old chicks and I was wondering when I can start feeding them eggshells? Do I have to wait until they lay? Also what can they eat of my scrap garbage?

 

[TheMauveDuck]

Don't start supplementing until they start laying, they don't need the extra calcium at that age. As for the scraps-don't feed them anything with salt, pepper, sugar or spices of any kind. There probably won't be much leftover vegetables anyways but it's always good to keep them in mind for your chickens. Basically what you should never feed them are;
-Salt of any kind
-Citrus fruits
-Onions
-Dried or uncooked beans
-Dry/uncooked rice (It will cause the rice to expand when it is introduced to moisture inside the chickens and can cause gut problems)
-Avocado skin and pit
-Raw eggs
-Candy, sugar, chocolate
-Apple seeds

Bread is acceptable in moderation but with no butter or spread of any kind. We give their eggshells back to them but yours aren't old enough yet. At that age we feed them things that won't mess with their delicate protein or nutritional levels. Peas, corn, greens, mealworms are all excellent choices if you're not going for leftovers

 

[loobell]

Thank you so much for all the great information! This really helps!