Egg shells are a good source
of calcium, but sometimes a chicken will get turned into an egg eater
if they learn how to break and eat an egg.
One way to do this would be
to dry the egg shells in the sun, crush them up and mix in with the
feed.
Another possible use for
extra egg shells is a soil additive for tomatoes.
Feeding egg shells to chickens
About The Author
Anna & Mark
Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton are a pair of back-to-the-landers who have been homesteading for over a decade.
I have read here and there that certain minerals should be available “free choice” in individual containers (calcium, phosphorus, and something else I think), so that each chicken can consume whatever amount of each mineral he/she thinks is appropriate. I admit I simply buy the local store’s “complete” organic blend and have few problems with thin shells or whatever else is supposed to happen to hens that don’t get extra minerals. I tried pulverized eggs shells once, as well as phosphorus and kelp meal, but not one chicken cared. So I quit it. I broadcasted the pulverized shells on the ground once, to see their reaction, and they ate it like they’d been starving. But they do that for almost anything!
Two rhetorical questions: do the people who recommend free choice minerals really think chickens know when to say when; and are humans so out of touch with our own instincts that we are the only species that doesn’t innately know which minerals to eat on a daily basis? 😉
jen — We don’t actually give our chickens free-choice minerals, mostly due to laziness (not wanting to set up the infrastructure). I wouldn’t worry about animals eating too much of minerals fed this way, though. Since the minerals won’t be mixed with anything tasty, you’d think animals would stop eating once their cravings go away.
I do think that both animals and people can tell what kind of vitamins and minerals they’re short on. Pregnant women definitely crave foods at certain times, so I don’t think it’s a stretch to believe that humans can tell if we’re low on specific minerals. We’re probably all so well-nourished at the moment that we seldom have that kind of deficiency.