Guest Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 DH normally puts our empty egg shells on the compost heap but now that we have the girls, I want to bake them, crush them and give them back to them as I believe it's good for them. I've just rinsed some out and put them in a 180 oven for 20 mins with a cake I was making and there were a few burnt traces where i hadn't completely got rid of the egg white but i discarded them, put the shells in a freezer bag and rolled them with a rolling pin til they were finely crushed. Is this right? Just want to check before we mix some in with their mash tomorrow. thank you and thanks to chickencam for the cake recipe, it's cooling now and smells yum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Sounds ok.... you can also nuke them in the microwave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Sounds ok.... you can also nuke them in the microwave. how long for please? x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Yes that sounds ok Poet. I dont usually rinse mine and leave the brown/burnt bits on when i mix mine in the blender. I usually bake about 50 shells at a time but i only add about a spoonful to they food when i mix it in. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Yes that sounds ok Poet. I dont usually rinse mine and leave the brown/burnt bits on when i mix mine in the blender. I usually bake about 50 shells at a time but i only add about a spoonful to they food when i mix it in. Hope this helps thanks, yes that helps. We've got about 3 tblsp fulls so we were just going to split it in 3 between the feeders, ok do you think? x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Sounds ok.... you can also nuke them in the microwave. how long for please? x about 30 seconds I do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Poet that sounds fine and im sure the chooks will love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 seems a bit, i dunno, cannibalistic- giving them their own shells back- mind you, i bite my nails sometimes! thanks guys xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenzin Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Think it's a great way to recycle , will give it a try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 One of my lays soft or thin shelled eggs if she doesn't have the old shells fed back to her. Whenever I use an I just put the shell on the bottom of the oven so that whenever I use the oven next the shells get baked without me having to put the oven on especially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 incidentally, why do they have to be baked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenzin Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 One of my lays soft or thin shelled eggs if she doesn't have the old shells fed back to her. Whenever I use an I just put the shell on the bottom of the oven so that whenever I use the oven next the shells get baked without me having to put the oven on especially. May be worth getting some grit and putting it in a bowl in their run , will help thicken the shell up . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 May be worth getting some grit and putting it in a bowl in their run , will help thicken the shell up . They do have grit and they also free range in the garden while I'm home, which is when I thought they picked up additional grit. They have gone on holiday for a week as of last night while we go away for half term so it will be interesing to see what happens while a more experienced chicken keeper has them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjules Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 incidentally, why do they have to be baked? So they don't smell like eggs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 incidentally, why do they have to be baked? So they don't smell like eggs. assume then that's so they don't start eating their own eggs...makes sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madchook Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 I put some in the rayburn yesterday and left them all day, I read it should be a low oven just to dry them out. Then pestle & mortared-wasn't sure how fine it should be. Need to make sure they get it tomorrow as Fraggles egg was broken this morning, shell didn't feel esp soft but it was completely mashed in the bottom of the nest box. Hope she hasn't got a taste for them as when my dd dropped one the other day she was right over having a peck at it Annoying as she is aying double-yolkers at the moment and I don't want to lose them to canniblism! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 I just crush my egg shells and mix them straight in with the layers pellets! I have been doing this for over a year and they have all been OK... I see it as putting some of the vitamins and minerals that went into laying the egg, back into the hen. We have never had any soft egg shells - quite the contrary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...