[chicksforkicks]

i want to give ma chickens eggshell now, as they are 20 weeks and wyandottes are supposed to start laying around 22 weeks. How do you clean the eggshells? with warm water? and how good do you grind them?
Thank you for replies!

[richyrich7]

Wash em with water, bake dry in the oven as its cooling from your cooking. Then grind them down so they are small enough not to be recognisable as egg shell, you don't want to encourage egg eating

[muntjac]

do not feed egg shell back to chickens .......... end of . :shock:

[Aunt Sally]

I'd agree with Munty, but lots of back yard hen keepers do it.  I prefere to give them oyster shell.

[chicksforkicks]

i think im going to go with the oyster shell until i read up some more on it, but the idea of giving them there shells back really did sound like a money-saving idea

[si-mate]

25kg of oyster shell is only £6 - £7 which will last you a long long time unless you have a lot of chickens.

Not worth all that work to save that IMO.

[WG.]

Use your egg shells in the compost heap / worm bin / bean trenches.  They are basically lime (pun intended).

[chicksforkicks]

im going to go buy oyster shell today, as im now convinced that its easier that way. thanks for the advice!

[KathyH]

The trouble I am having with oyster shell is that when I put it in an old heavy based ceramic dog bowl I had, they kicked bark chippings all over it and eventually tipped it up. The contents were lost in the chippings and mud.
So I got a "coop bowl" as used for large cage birds which sort of bolts to the wire netting and so is about 6 inches up off the ground. Hen proof I thought. Rubbish said the hens and promptly turned tipping it into a favourite pastime! Contents lost again  :?
So - question - what sort of container do you all use to keep the grit in that the hens don't see as a new olympic sport - Grit throwing!
I am running out of oyster shell!

[agapanthus]

I usually put a little in their feed every time.

[muntjac]

you dont have to feed it all the time just throw a handful down per six chickens  or dump some in the feed once a month i use a feeder tray screwed down to a lump of wood

[richyrich7]

I use a plastic milk bottle with a hole cut in the side and tie it to the wire.

[Aunt Sally]

I use this type of coop cup

[KathyH]

Thanks for the ideas folks. I think the coop cups Aunt Sally suggests would be treated the same way as they have the metal one I already tried. Its too much fun to flip off!
The milk bottle trick sounds interesting as does nailing something to a heavy block of wood.
I will add some to the pellet food and work on a more un-flippable container!
Thanks again  

[si-mate]

Eltex do a grit hopper which you can screw to the side of the ark / run or any bit of wood come to that.