Calcium supplements for chickens
 

-Has anyone ever fed crushed egg shell back to their chickens, instead of oyster shell?

-Does anyone use something besides oyster shell?

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

yes mum used to feed egg shells back to chickens i dont because im afraid i will teach them to eat there own eggs.but to date have had no problems
with thin eggs but that might be because of slightly hard well water or something and my chickens are all free range so they have the pick of anything they want.

my chickens are now 12 months old and have been laying well for more than 6 and i have never fed any form of supplemental calcium
but they are probably getting it from somewhere?

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

My chickens are still too young to worry about calcium, but just for fun I thought I'd show one off in a pic I took a couple days ago. About 12 weeks old.

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

Yes feeding them back the shells is not a bad thing to do, I just break them up smaller so they no longer look like an egg. However, the amount of oyster shell they eat is really a pretty small amount, a bag lasts almost forever.

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

Ground shells are best, don't just crush them vaguely. The goal is to mix it in with their feed surreptitiously. It's only when they associate 'eating' shell with eating their own eggs that problems occur.

Grinding to about <1mm completely eliminates their ability to associate shell with eggs...they're none the wiser. :smokin:

This is only done as a supplement and not really necessary if you have thick shells. I still add it to be on the safe side though...never had a problem with thin shells...ever...happy ladies...:wink:

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

real jack what type of chicken is that?

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

Well, can't say I know for sure, but if she lays blue or green eggs I'd guess she's an Easter Egg chicken. Probably has some Araucana in her.

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

Oyster shell is a standard. Plus if you protect them and their grain from insects with diatomaceous earth it is deadly to mites, weevils, etc, but calcium to them.

Don't overpay. Garden centers sell tiny bottles for an arm and a leg but big bags can be ordered cheap.

They also need sharp little rocks, sold as 'grit' to serve as teeth in their crops. We just dumped a bag of grit and a bog of oyster shell in a mound for them to eat free choice, as needed.

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

I've given them insect infested grain w/o harm before. I tend to mix a little grit in their food, but I have gone long periods w/o it and they still seem fine.

I live in a neighborhood and keep them in a greenhouse, although I've thought about a chicken tractor w/ fine hardware cloth on the sides and plywood on the north side to prevent others from seeing them.

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

Look up "rock dust"
Have a pile of it that they can peck at and eat when they want
They will get the CA they need from it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_flour

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

Jack, is that a real chicken? *Your* real chicken, photo un-retouched? I ask, because I've never seen one with silver feet before! True, I'm kind of a city-slicker, but still that is one nice looking bird. Colloidal silver in the feed, maybe, in place of antibiotics? Does it lay silver eggs too?

Nice picture in any case; looks like a happy chicken!

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

The chickens are the wife's hobby.
She gives them crushed oyster shell. 5 lbs lasts forever.

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

This is Chichi, the chicken...

She's magical and lays solid silver eggs. :D

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

They probably like the bugs best. :wink: When we gave cabbage worm infested brussels sprouts leaves to ours they loved the bugs. They seem to have a protein detector. If you pick tomato worms off your plants they love those too. I'm more grossed out gathering tomato worms than the wife is. She razzes me.

This is making me want to refill our henhouse so bad. We are considering relocation and I was trying to cut back the pets. But dang hens are fun and the eggs are so good.

RealJack, that is one great looking bird. But I'm sticking to black australorpes. Can they ever lay!

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

Yeah, but can your australorpes lay SAE's? :D

Actually, My biggest worry here is the heat. I've got one solid black chicken, don't really know what it is, except the guy I bought the chicks from thought it might be a black jersey giant. Could be I suppose. I hope she will be able to tolerate 95 degree days in the shade.

I've also got what appear to be buff orpingtons.

I think I was lucky with this batch. They are all healthy with only one rooster. I'll see how that works out.
Each chicken has a different personality. One of them hops on my shoulder every time I come into the coop area. The rooster is super friendly, and some run from me like I'm Dick Cheney. They're very entertaining and the work cleaning the coop is insignificant.

I'm mostly vegan, but will taste cheese or eggs or even meat once in a while. I will be eating eggs though, hopefully in the near future.

Not the silver ones, of course.

I've been having a lot of fun with these birds. Built a coop with three separate runs. An 8x8 and two 8x16's. Plus now I have two chicken tractors. The big tractor was made out of an old worn out trampoline frame.

Personally I'd like to let them just free range, but my sister-in-law would absolutely freak out if one got loose. The really funny thing is she is a big meat eater, just not meat she has a relationship with, I guess.

Me, I'm the opposite. I won't eat meat that was factory farmed, but don't mind eating what I kill.

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

RealJack that is a great photo and good looking bird.

We have several Ameraucana with green legs like your bird and get large olive green to turquoise eggs. Also, just a note if your chickens quit laying eggs during the winter months -- mix some red cayenne pepper (powder) into the food. It worked for us witin two weeks. The chickens like it plain too. Checkout backyardchickens.com

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

I have two New Guinea hens that showed up in my yard last summer and they never left. I started feeding them chicken boiler food when it looked like they were not going tback home. Should I be supplementing them with calcium too?

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

I would only if you want the eggs to have thicker shells, if they are ok now then leave them alone.

Re: Calcium supplements for chickens
 

Oh, they are not working chickens. They don't have to lay eggs. :D