Who recycles egg shells?

[SassyKat6181]

I've been keeping the egg shells as we use them in a quart container in the kitchen. I bake them at least once a week, maybe more as the bin gets full. Hubby says they stink and that I need to just buy oyster shells. I really don't want to spend more money when I can use the perfectly ok shells. Anyone have advice on how to store the used egg shells without stinking? (I wash them before they go into the bin) Thanks

 

[cackydoodledoo]

Think it was on this forum that someone else had posted somewhere that they keep the shells in a ziploc in the freezer until she has enough to bake. Don't think you would get any smell with them being frozen.

 

[mkearsley]

I just give the shells to my girls as I use the eggs. That way I don't have to store them. I'd suggest you boil/bake them & let them dry before going in the bin. Boiling might be a bit quicker, I boil mine about 4-5 minutes, just like making boiled eggs.

 

[mlregalado]

I don't have any chickens yet so right now mine go into the compost heap. I didn't know you had to boil/ bake them before you gave them to your hens, good to know.

 

[HHandbasket]

I put mine in the compost heap.

 

[jenesis536]

I do recycle them, but I haven't kept them long enough to see if they smell. I usually rinse them off after I use them and pop them in the microwave for a couple minutes. This makes them really brittle. I then throw them in my mini food processor and add them to whatever else I'm giving the girls that day. I wonder if you were "collecting them" for a longer period, if you just rinsed them off and microwaved them before storing them for later use, maybe they wouldn't smell?

 

[aggie9296]

I don't store them either. I chop them up in a chopper right after I've cracked them. Then I put them in the compost. Then the chickens promptly eat them.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

You don't HAVE to do anything to your egg shells before you give them to your hens. You CAN do all kinds of things, but nothing is really necessary. I've been just feeding back my eggshells to my chickens for YEARS without incidence (including creating egg eaters).

 

[HEChicken]

I keep unbaked shells on a cookie sheet in the oven. When I need to use the oven, I pull it out, cook my dish and turn the oven off. Then I put the cookie sheet with egg shells back into the oven. The residual heat as the oven cools down bakes them enough, and I don't have to worry about over cooking them.

Next I take the shells and put them in a jar, crush them, and store them in a plastic Folger's-type coffee container. I haven't noticed any odor doing it this way.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

We're big coffee drinkers so there is a new can to store shells in each week. Yes those containers do get funky by weeks end.

I like the idea of simply smashing them up as soon as used and fed back to chickens but with family of 6 that makes for alot of shells all at once here. So we store in coffee can and bake em sterile end of each week to mix into feed bin, toss the can and start a new.