Something that I love doing is trying to find ways to repurpose things so that they don’t go to waste. Whether that be using a whole chicken carcass left over from roasting it for dinner to make stock or leftover eggshells that I could maybe do something with without wasting them. Little did I know how vital these leftover eggshells were! A quick cruise on Amazon showed me that buying a decent-sized bag of oyster shells for my chickens could run me upwards of $25 a bag! WHAT?!?!?! Um, let’s not and say we did! So, I took to the internet and discovered that I could, in fact, make my own calcium supplement for my chickens that is basically free, and I like free! Continue reading to find out how to bake eggshells for your backyard chicken flock.
Start Here
To start, it’s essential to provide your chickens with a steady supply of calcium so they can consume it when needed. It isn’t advisable to give it to them mixed into their food because then they could overconsume calcium when they might not need it, which could be dangerous for your flock. Instead, try to find a different dish to put the calcium in that is separate from their regular food bin.
Why Calcium is Important for Your Backyard Chicken Flock
So, why is it important to provide calcium for your flock of birds, you ask? It helps to strengthen their eggshells, so they don’t come out paper thin or without a shell. We ran into a string of no-shell eggs when my chickens first started laying eggs in the heat of summer. I think it’s common for chickens to lay weird eggs when they first begin laying or if they are heat-stressed. I know we were battling both issues at the time. So, providing regular calcium to your chickens is a smart move, and what better way than to learn how to bake eggshells for your backyard chicken flock?
How to Keep Freshly Used Eggshells
First, you need to find a container with a lid to collect the eggshells you would generally discard. Then, keep that container in the refrigerator. Next, collect the eggshells throughout the week as you use the eggs in different recipes and place them in the container in the fridge. It would be ideal to bake them weekly, but I have found that life happens, and I sometimes stretch mine to two weeks. I wouldn’t let them go for over two weeks, however! Once, I accidentally waited three weeks (well, it might have been longer, I can’t remember), and there was mold everywhere on the eggshells, and it smelled of something fierce. I was super sad to have to toss out all those eggshells, but mold is highly toxic to chickens, so you want to keep mold out of their food sources and coop.
Time to Bake the Eggshells!
Once you have located the container you will use, I would label it so everyone knows to put discarded eggshells in there and store it in the refrigerator. Once your container is filled up within a week or two, it’s time to bake them! I bake them to make them look different from a fresh egg. I have never had a problem with my ladies eating their freshly laid eggs except when they lay weird paper-thin eggs. Also, I like baking them to kill any bacteria lingering on the shells (I’m thinking salmonella here!).
Baking your Eggshells
Next, you want to preheat your oven to 375 degrees. While it is preheating, I prepare my eggshells on a baking sheet. I recommend not using your nicest baking sheet for this project. The eggshells tend to stick to the pan a little bit, and it’s a pain in the butt to get clean sometimes. My advice would be to use a baking sheet you don’t care about and only use that baking sheet for this activity. When putting your eggshells on the baking sheet, I would try to drain off any excess liquid and then lay the eggshells on the sheet as whole as possible. You will be crushing them up after baking them. If you crush them up now, it will quickly become a VERY messy project. Make sure you don’t stack two eggshells inside each other, either. They tend not to cook thoroughly if they are doubled up.
Crushing The Eggshells
When your oven is fully preheated to 375 degrees, go ahead and put your baking sheet with your eggshells into the oven. I bake mine for 8 minutes on convection. When they come out, they will make a crackling and popping sound. Carefully check to make sure the eggs are fully baked. You don’t want any softies. The soft ones tend not to crush easily. Ensure the eggshells are cooled down before transferring them to a gallon plastic bag or old pillowcase to crush them. I wouldn’t use your hands to crush them in the bag. Those eggshells are super sharp and pointy, and I may have cut myself trying to cut corners. I highly recommend using a rolling pin, hard bottle, or cup to crush them up.
Storing The Baked Eggshells
After you crush your baked eggshells, you can transfer them to a container. I use a trusty mason jar to store mine in the fridge once they are cooled and crushed up. You can put them in whatever container you feel is best. Whenever your chickens need more eggshells, you are ready to fill up the container in their coop full of freshly baked eggshells they love. And I LOVE it because it’s free! If my chickens aren’t consuming many eggshells, I use a clean coffee grinder to grind up my excess baked eggshells. I then use the resulting powder in the garden as a calcium supplement for my vegetable plants. You can also toss your extra eggshells into your compost pile. Easy peasy!
Well, there you have it, folks! That’s how you bake eggshells for your backyard chicken flock to give them a free calcium supplement to keep their eggshells hard! If you want to learn more about me, go here! Or, follow me on Instagram!
