I've read of people who take the small bits (like flour) from the bottom of the oyster shell bag, mix it with a bit of feed and some water, and give it to the hens for a "treat."Thanks. Yeah, I just meant for the times when they seem to need a boost, such as when I notice thin shells.
Of course there are plenty of other methods that can work too, but that one does not require buying anything special, and it's easy to do. It's also easy to give to just one or a few hens (separate them from the flock for a few minutes to eat), if you don't want the entire flock to have the extra calcium (this might matter if you have chicks or roosters with the flock.)
If you are not already feeding layer feed, you could just switch to layer feed as a way to force them to eat calcium, since layer feed has more calcium than other feeds. (Not recommended if there are chicks in the flock eating the same feed, because the extra calcium is bad for chicks. But adding extra calcium to their normal food would also be a bad idea if there are chicks in the flock.)
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