I occasionally get asked how I use eggshells here on the homestead, and what I do to prepare them for use.
I realized years ago that while hens are perfectly happy to eat eggshells, if they're fed them in large pieces, they'll recognize them as eggshells - and then they start eating their own eggs. I've experienced this even when they've got leftover food in their dish, while on pasture, and have come to the conclusion that they don't eat their own eggs because they're hungry; they eat them because they like the flavor. So the challenge is to include eggshells in their diet without them figuring it out.
Why feed hens eggshells? Because it's the easiest way to get calcium into their diet, and prevent them from laying eggs with thin shells. Oyster shell works too; we have it out there for free feeding. But they absorb the calcium from their eggshells even better.
I keep a cookie sheet with a used piece of aluminum foil (from whatever my most recent baking project was) in my oven, and collect eggshells as I go.
Every time the oven gets preheated, the shells are in there during the preheat, getting nicely dried out. Moist eggshells will mold; this way, I know I've cooked any nasty bacteria to death and dried them all out at the same time. Over baking them doesn't seem to be an issue. Calcium is a mineral, after all; do home ovens actually get hot enough to make it go bad?
I know they're ready to crush when they're dried (and often, slightly browned). Here are two shells from today; the one on the right has been through a couple of oven preheats (I pull them out when the food goes in), and the one on the left needs a bit more cooking.
I run them through my coffee grinder, although they could also crushed in a food processor, or blender, or with a rolling pin. The idea is to make them into small pieces.
They don't have to be this fine. I also add them to my garden for my plants, and I figure the smaller the pieces, the faster they'll break down. I've read that the experts don't think eggshells can prevent blossom end rot on tomatoes and peppers because it takes a couple of years for the shells to decompose enough for plants to use them. However, I take the long view; I started adding eggshells to my compost and garden eight years ago, and continue to add them every year. They've had time to break down and start building up calcium reserves in my garden… and I haven't seen blossom end rot on anything in over five years.
Getting them into the hens requires one more step. I mix them into whatever kitchen treats are moist, so they'll stick and not just fall to the bottom of the feed dish. Today's treats included a small pan of oatmeal that the kids decided they didn't want to finish, and left congealing on the stove.
There was probably a cup of oatmeal. I added a couple tablespoons of shells, and stirred them in.
I decided that it could use a bit more, since hens seem to like added eggshells as much as my kids like cinnamon-and-sugar on their toast.
Another couple of tablespoons or so.
These are some chicken treats that the birds will enjoy!
We haven't had any thin shells for a long time, either.
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