Did you know you can use eggshells as a chicken and garden supplement?
Absolutely!
Now, up until a couple of years ago, I had no idea that eggshells were good for anything except waiting for me to crack them open 😉
Whether you keep chickens and have an abundance of egg shells, or buy a carton or two each week from the Farmer’s Market or a grocery store, you can get more out of them than just a yummy meal!
Egg shells, being pure calcium, can easily be used in the garden and are very good for tomatoes & peppers (and several other veggies) if you add a couple of tablespoons to the soil when transplanting your starts into the garden at the beginning of the season.
You can also feed them back to your own chickens as a supplement when they are molting or simply to help their new eggs have stronger shells or simply add the shells to your compost pile where they will decompose faster.
Saving and using eggshells is easy.
Simply keep a bowl or paper bag handy to throw your shells into (we keep ours under our kitchen sink…rinsing them out first helps to limit the potential for smells). As you collect the shells you can either wait patiently for your shells to dry out on their own (if you live in a drier climate) or you can put them on a cookie sheet and into the oven at 250 degrees for 5-10 minutes.
Typically, I turn on the oven to pre-heat to 250*, put the eggshells in the oven, turn off the oven as soon as it’s to temp, and let the eggshells cool in there.
Once the shells are completely dry you can place them into a paper bag and crush them using the palm of your hand (the paper bag helps protect your hand as egg shells are sharp) or the bottom of a cup to crush the shells in a bowl.
Or you can go the quick route and blend up the eggshells into a fine powder in the blender and then store your powder (labeled) for later use. This isn’t absolutely necessary but will allow the nutrients of the shells to absorb into the soil much quicker.
xoxo,
M
Thanks for the info! I’m going to try crushing ours. So far I’ve just been putting them in the compost as is.
You’re welcome! Throwing them in the compost as is works, too…it just takes that much longer for them to decompose 🙂
I process my egg shell in a blender with a little water, then let them dry in a bowl on the counter for a week or so.
Added to the worm bed as grit, broad cast in the garden and add to the compost bin!
When the Chicks get a little older, I will give them shells so they can take advantage of the calcium.
Tom
Sounds great, Tom! Kind of amazing how something as simple as egg shells can have so many uses, ha? I love it!
We freeze ours and then either bake them like you mentioned or just crush them to feed to the hens. We even have a few friends doing the same for us!
Nice! Why do you freeze them first? To kill bacteria?
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I have been saving my shells! I read you can throw them in the food processor too which I the route I think I will try! I wonder if it would be ok to put some of them into my tomato seedlings?
Yes! Tomatoes love the calcium. I will throw a little into the bottom of each hole I plant my tomatoes in this year 🙂
They will also help deter slugs if you spread them around the garden, the slugs won’t crawl over them!
So true! I don’t think about slugs because we don’t have them here…at least not that I know of! 😉