Can I feed egg shells to my chickens?

[Fenn]

Good to hear. I just wasn't sure if it wouldn't cause problems down the way, but yeah I guess it wouldn't really matter since they do eat meat anyway. Thanks

 

[moonlyghtegirl]

I collect my egg shells, rinse them, crush them, put in a shallow baking pan, and any time I am pre-heating the oven or after I am finished, I put them in to make sure they get good and dry, then before I give them to the chickens, I crush them again for good measure, cuts way down on me having to buy oyster shell!

I collect my eggshells back from those who get eggs from me. They add up quickly.

 

[Tina1971]

Wow! Thanks everyone for the very good advice! I have a scrap bucket and I think I'll try throwing them in there uncrushed and see what happens. If that doesn't work I'll try the drying and crushing method....I'm all about doing what's easiest. I cook eggs for us a few times a week and easily go through 9 eggs each time so you can see why I didn't want to wast all that good calcium!

@ Sunny_Side_Up[Sometimes if I have a lot of older eggs to spare I'll put them, shells & all, into the blender, then cook them scrambled to feed to the chickens. I spice it up with a lot of cayenne pepper & garlic for their health.].....what do the spices do for them?

Thanks again!

 

[Homesteader at Heart]

I like to keep things simple as well, and just rinse the shells, crush by hand, then put in with the kitchen scraps.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
Garlic seems to be a good preventative for a lot of ills, just a good overall health boost, cayenne aids the digestive system & can help prevent worms. Some folks give this routinely, I just remember to give it when I make them their scrambled eggs.

 

[jobydog]

Also as to feeding chicken meat to chickens and the risk of "mad-chicken" disease, I believe the mad cow issue was caused by feeding herbivorous animals brain matter from infected animals. Cooking though will not destroy the prions responsible for mad cow disease. I wouldn't think this would be a problem though since you are not feeding chicken brains to chickens. CJD and kuru are results of eating infected brain matter. Not sure but haven't heard of this disease in chickens or turkeys but I'm certainly no expert.

 

[cnd416343]

YES, I WOULD LIKE TOO KNOW IF I CAN DRY OUT MY EGG SHELLS AND CRUSH THEM UP REALLY GOOD AND GIVE THEM TOO MY HENS AND IT IS GOOD FOR THEM.. I HAVE HEARD THAT OTHERS GIVE THEM BACK TOO THEM AND THE HENS DONT EVEN KNOW JUST WANT TOO KNOW IF I CAN DO THE SAMETHING TOO MY HENS.. CAN I FEED THEM CHICKEN TOO LIKE OTHERS SAY FROM TIME TO TIME? WHAT ELSE CAN I FEED MY HENS.. I AM NEW AT THIS AND JUST WANT SOME GOOD IDEAS FOR MY HENS.. THANKS CINDY

 

[cnd416343]

HI WHAT DOES CAYENNE PEPPER DO AND GARLIC DO TOO THEM?

 

[Folly's place]

It's fine to feed eggs and shells to the chickens; Crushed and cooked is best. It will not substitute for providing oyster shell for your laying hens, however. The chicken will metabolize the egg shells too fast to help provide enough calcium for shell production. Mary

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I split the egg shells with my chickens. They get some in their calcium free choice bowl and I get some blended up with my coffee grounds. It takes any bitterness out of the coffee and we all get our calcium.