While there are feed supplements that can be readily purchased
from your local feed store, they can increase the cost of raising your
chickens. One of the items often lacking in a chicken’s diet is calcium and
this can be easily fixed by feeding your chickens crushed egg shells. It is
simple to do and can save you a few dollars. It will also solve the problem of
eggs with weak shells that break or damage easily.
Many times people worry about their chickens becoming egg eaters.
If your chickens are getting the necessary calcium, this should not be a
problem. In fact, a lack of calcium in their diet can actually create this
problem with your chickens. Like any animal, they will seek out a source of the
nutrients they require.
Chickens also have a natural defense mechanism when it comes to
their eggs. They will instinctively protect their eggs from possible predators
by eating cracked or damaged eggs in the nest. Cracked or damaged eggs are
easily honed in on by predators and could result in the loss of all the eggs in
the nest. To avoid this problem, it is a good practice to pick your eggs at
least twice a day. This way you will be able to remove any weak or damaged eggs
as quickly as possible.
Got egg shells?
Staying above the water line!
Riverwalker
Posts
6 comments:
Allowing your chickens to eat their own eggshells may cause them to become cannibalistic and devour their own eggs. Better to use oyster shell supplements available at feed stores. Just sayin'.
To: anon 11:02
I started raising chickens when I was 12 and sold yard eggs for 25 cents a dozen to make money. Saved enough to buy my first car.
I'm in my sixties now and have never had a problem with "egg eaters" other than chicken snakes.
Been using egg shells for a long time with no problems. If you are more comfortable buying the oyster shell supplement, then that is what I would recommend you do.
RW
I advocate giving eggshells to chickens on my blog all the time. For those who are fearful of egg-eating chickens, bake the egg shells until they start turning brown. We did this when we fed the egg shells to our dogs. They do not recognize the eggs when browned.
Why do you wash the eggshells when the goo inside is protein that could benefit the chickens? I never wash mine, and I have had no problems.
I buy nothing to feed to my hens. Commercial chicken feed with corn is the #1 reason chickens need antibiotics--said a PhD in Poultry Science at Auburn University.
We had trouble with our "Rhodies" eating their eggs. The folks at the feed & grain advised us to stop feeding eggshells to the birds...could be a breed thing, maybe.
To: Parsimony
We wash the egg shells as a hygiene thing. We keep several days worth of egg shells in a bowl or on a plate before they get crushed up...avoid ants and other crawlers that way.
Have never cooked the shells...just crushed them up real good by hand.
RW
We don't cook our shells either, just crumble them up and add them to the compost. The chickens jump right in the compost pile to forage. While the compost is still in the house, it is in a bucket in the fridge (to avoid fruit flies mostly) so I don't worry about any hygiene issues there.
Parsimony, I'm interested to hear other methods of feeding chickens besides store bought food. In the Winters here, they never get enough to eat just from free-ranging - the only bugs they can find this time of year are the grubs and worms deep in the compost pile, really.
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