Erics recent oyster shell incident brings up a good question, should I offer my chicken (banties and reg) turks, guineas some? And should it be mixed in or offered in a seperate feeders? And how much should I expect them to go through? I asked about prices when I was down at the local Feed & Grain so I will most likely be buying by the 50lb bag.(the most ecomonical way to go) I currently have two 50lb feeders one of turkey grower and one of gamebird starter (mostly for the keets they are still growing) Everyone eats what they want and so far it has worked out. I know they are big feeders, its easier for me to fill it and forget it! Plus I have no open bags around attracting mice.
So what say the group?
Oyster shell?
The reason I ask the amount they will need is to see if 50 lbs is way too much. I do have lots of room to store in a nice dry place so uif they will use that amount in a reasonable amount of time I will buy that.
i dump about 10-20 pounds of oyster shell in with about 1/2 bag of 'grit' which i think is little tiny rocks for their gizzards. i use an old home made hog feeder my neighbor gave me. i realize the grit is not necessary with free range birds like mine, but if they feel too lazy to go find their own rocks, then they have easy access. it honestly never occurred to me to watch out for what eric had happen with the cats, of which i have several (read double digits here). will have to keep an eye out for that. yuck.
forgot to add: i also buy the 50 lb bags and just scoop out can fulls when the feeder looks like it needs it. even though my hens have free access to my entire 8 acres, they still pick around in there every day so there must be something in the grit/oyster shell that they need.
I just scoop out enough to top off the dish I have mounted to the wall in the coop near the feeder.
The rest of the bag is in a trash can with a lid for storage.
Julie
Well, how do your eggs look? If they are nice and hard, it is less important. If you have too many eggs, you can always boil them and give the shells back to the girls with the boiled egg. I recycle all my egg shells back to the girls ( crushed up) and they gobble them right down. I think with 50 lbs you will be all set with oyster shell for a long time.
Mine love eggs/shells as well. I give them scrambled and boiled with the shells crushed up.
Sometimes I take the eggshells from eggs I have used in baking and pop them in a bowl in the microwave and "cook" them a bit before giving them to the chickens crushed up. I've heard cooking them changes the taste and of course nobody wants an "eggeater" in the coop....lol.
Julie
Amen! That's for darn tootin!
And you can always tell who it is, too, by the guilty ring of yolk on her face! LOL!