[Fisherman]

Does anyone know how to prepare oyster shell for the chickens from fresh shells? Is it as simple as just breaking them up with a hammer?

[carolbriar]

I don;t know but something like that.  The one thing I think you would have to do is to sterilise them - probably putting them in a hottish oven and baking them for at least 10 minutes.  These are all guesses - hopefully someone with more experience will come along and advise.

[New shoot]

I'm no expert on this either, but wouldn't you have to tumble the grit to take off really sharp edges 

[Lindeggs]

Depending where you got the shells fro, you might not need to sterilise them.  On the other hand if they have had live oysters in them recently you would want to make sure that all the oyster flesh was well and truly gone so there is nothing to rot and go nasty.  You could bake them as suggested or just boil them if it's easier.

I don't know about tumbling them to remove the sharp bits.  I have some shells that I dug up out of my garden, which have obviously been there for a long time and have gone quite chalky.  They break up easily so I certainly won't bother tumbling them, I will just crush them into pieces as small as a button.

Where did your shells come from?  Are they fresh? 

[Fisherman]

They were freshly delivered from Scotland and very good they were to.

Good luck with your new arrivals Lindeggs and welcome to the mad but most enjoyable world of chicken keeping. You have no idea how much time you will spend watching them in the coming months. Just wait until you get your first egg 

Good luck

[alisonwo]

My husband loves oysters and I tried reusing the shells, but they are unbelievably hard and dodging flying bits of shell is no joke, they really sting if they hit your face.  I gave up and decided it wasn't worth the bother especially with oyster shell being cheap to buy.