How to Feed Eggshells to Chickens

Co-authored by Amy Harrison and Hunter Rising

Last Updated: September 16, 2021 References Approved

It may seem strange to feed chickens their own eggshells, but the shells provide a good source of calcium for them. When you want to start making eggshells into feed, make sure you dry and crush them first so they aren’t easily recognizable. When you’re finished, your chickens will stay healthy and produce more eggs!

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Drying the Eggshells

1
Collect any broken eggshells from the chicken coop or your kitchen. Whenever you use eggs in the kitchen, save the eggshells instead of throwing them away. Keep a small plastic container in your kitchen to place your cracked eggs inside. You may also go out to your coop and collect any broken eggs that you find. Collect the eggs until the container is full.^{[1]
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- You can do this with store-bought eggs or eggs from the chickens you own.
2
Preheat your oven to 350 °F (177 °C). Make sure one of the racks is in the center position inside your oven. Turn on your oven and let it heat up completely before starting.^{[2]
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3
Spread the shells evenly on a baking tray. The wet membrane on the egg helps the eggshell retain its shape, so it needs to dry out so you can easily break them apart. Make sure all of the eggs are at least broken in half so they can dry out completely. Only make a single layer of eggs across a baking sheet so they aren’t overlapping.^{[3]
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4
Put the eggshells in your oven for 10 minutes. Set the tray of eggshells on the center rack of your oven. After 10 minutes, take the eggshells out from the oven and let them cool completely. The shells should crumble easily when you put pressure on them.^{[4]
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- If the eggs still don’t crumble easily, put them back in your oven for another 2-3 minutes.
Tip: You can also leave the eggshells out in the sun for 1-2 days to dry them out naturally.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Crushing the Shells

1
Put the eggshells in a resealable plastic bag when they’re cool to the touch. Take all of the eggshells off of the baking tray and transfer them into a bag. Try to fit as many eggs as you can into the bag before sealing it tightly.^{[5]
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- Break any bigger pieces apart with your hands so you can fit more eggshells into the bag.
2
Hit the eggshells with a rolling pin to break them. Hold a rolling pin in your dominant hand and the bag of eggshells in the other. Lightly hit the bag of eggshells with the side of your rolling pin. Make sure the bag doesn’t pop open when you hit it by pushing out all of the air before you seal the bag.^{[6]
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- You may also use a meat tenderizer if you want.
3
Use the rolling pin to crush the shells into a finer powder. Hold both handles of your rolling pin and flatten the eggshells in the bag by rolling it back and forth. Turn the bag every 4-5 rolls so you crush all of the eggshells evenly. When your eggshells turn into a powder, they’re ready for your chickens.

Warning: Make sure that your eggshells are completely broken, or else your chickens may recognize them. This could lead to them eating their own eggs when they lay them.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Feeding Your Chickens

1
Place a dish of ground eggshells in their coop so your chickens can eat freely. Fill a food dish with the eggshells and set it near their bowl of water. The chickens will peck at the shells when they want to and get calcium in their diet. Refill the bowl of eggshells whenever it’s empty.^{[7]
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- Always keep a dish with regular feed in your coop since chickens can’t survive on eggshells alone.
2
Mix the eggshells in with their regular feed to hide it. If you don’t want your chickens to get used to the taste of eggshells, blend together equal parts ground eggshells and regular feed. This way your chickens won’t notice the flavor, but they’ll still get all of the benefits. Continue mixing the eggshells into their feed so they keep getting calcium in their diet.^{[8]
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- Slowly introduce eggshells into your chicken’s diet so it can get used to the flavor.
3
Switch to ground oyster shells if your chickens start eating their own eggs. Sometimes, chickens will enjoy the taste of eggshells and eat eggs they’ve just laid. If you notice this happen, remove the eggshells from their coop and replace them with an oyster shell enrichment. This will still give them calcium and will help your chickens stop breaking their eggs.^{[9]
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- Ground oyster shells can be purchased online or at farm supply stores.

Expert Q&A

Question

Do you bake eggshells to kill pathogens? Is boiling eggshells okay, too?

Ryan Corrigan, LVT, VTS-EVN
Licensed Veterinary Technician
Ryan Corrigan is a Licensed Veterinary Technician in California. She received her Bachelor of Science in Veterinary Technology from Purdue University in 2010. She is also a Member of the Academy of Equine Veterinary Nursing Technicians since 2011.

Ryan Corrigan, LVT, VTS-EVN

Licensed Veterinary Technician

Expert Answer

You're baking the shells to dry them out, not kill pathogens. It's important to fully dry the eggshells so that you can break them up into a fine powder, which is safer for the chickens. Boiling the eggshells doesn't work because the membrane will still be intact, which makes it hard to crush the egg into small enough pieces. You don't have to bake the eggshells before feeding them to your chickens, but you need to break them up into very tiny pieces. Keep in mind that your chickens may start eating the eggs they lay if they get used to eating big pieces of shell.
Question

My chicken ate the eggshell before I collected the eggs today. Will she make a habit of this?

Amy Harrison

Top Answerer

When chickens get a taste of raw eggs, they develop a habit of eating their own eggs due to the fact that they are now familiarized with that distinct taste. Unfortunately, it can be very hard to break this habit, but breaking a bad habit early will be easier. First you need to make sure to clean all of the contents of the broken egg and then observe your chicken to see if she breaks any more eggs.
Question

How long do I bake them for?

Amy Harrison

Top Answerer

At a 200-degree oven, they only need to be heated for 10 minutes until the egg shells completely dry out.

Warnings

Watch your chickens after you introduce eggshells into their diet since they might start breaking their own eggs.^{[10]
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