Can you feed egshell to chickens?

[OrpingtonManic]

is it okay to feed egshell to our chickens? We have been giving it to them for a while now after some of our chickens layed shell-less eggs. We bake the shells and crush them before we give them to the chickens. So far there have been no obvious signs that giving them eggshell is affecting them negatively but we just want to make sure.

 

[Ocho 8 Farm]

is it okay to feed egshell to our chickens? We have been giving it to them for a while now after some of our chickens layed shell-less eggs. We bake the shells and crush them before we give them to the chickens. So far there have been no obvious signs that giving them eggshell is affecting them negatively but we just want to make sure.

I save all my eggshells and feed them back to my chickens. I just rinse the shells and let them air dry for a few days and roughly crush them and put them in with the oyster shells I have. They love the eggshells and will pick those out first.
Try adding some oyster shells to help with the shell less eggs. Also you can pill the chickens with a calcium pill.

 

[Sally PB]

I just rinse the shells and let them air dry for a few days and roughly crush them and put them in with the oyster shells I have. They love the eggshells and will pick those out first.

Mine do exactly the same thing.

 

[TooCheep]

Yes. Egg shells are fine for chickens. Some bake them to insure any potential pathogens are killed. I consider that overkill and simply let them dry.
I do crush them before feeding with the intent being to keep them from associating the shells with eating their own eggs. Not sure it is necessary, but it doesn't hurt.

@Ocho 8 Farm has a good solution when things start to get bad (thin/no shells). Crushed egg shell is fine for ongoing maintenance. If the hen isn't getting enough calcium in her diet, then they pull from their bones and when this source gets low (meaning their bones are weaker), they start laying thin shells and eventually no shelled eggs.

In that case, I've fed my girl a human calcium citrate + vitamin D3 pill. Their egg returned to normal the next day. If you go that way, there are plenty of YouTube videos on how to feed pills to chickens. It's fairly easy.

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Question- What is their base feed? How much/what kind of secondary foods do they get? Depending on the answers, the egg shells may not be sufficient.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

is it okay to feed egshell to our chickens? We have been giving it to them for a while now after some of our chickens layed shell-less eggs. We bake the shells and crush them before we give them to the chickens. So far there have been no obvious signs that giving them eggshell is affecting them negatively but we just want to make sure.

Yes, that’s ok.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

New layers will lay soft shelled eggs until the kinks are worked out. I'd get some oyster shell as well. I have both available for my flock.

 

[OrpingtonManic]

Thanks!

 

[RoyalChick]

Mine love eggshells.
I put my bucket of shells in the oven when o switch it off after cooking. I do that because it makes them easier to crush (which I do with the bottom of a wine bottle).

 

[RUNuts]

Good information. Eggshells, shrimp shells, crawfish shells, bugs and the like for added calcium. A bowl of crushed oyster shells on the side is good too.

I feed the flocks eggshells back to them without doing anything else. If you have shells from an unknown flock is when I'd worry about baking and sterilizing the eggshells. They will crush them themselves if I don't step on them.