Egg shells?

[Colt]

How do you prepare the shells from eggs used in the kitchen for your birds? I think you bake them, but have no idea how long or at what temp...

[Sunbay]

I rinse them, shake dry, & microwave on high for 3 mins. On a paper plate. Then smush/break into tiny pieces. Lay some wax paper on top, crush with a spoon.
I am sure there are as many different ways as people on here.
Works for me.



Lauren

[Colt]

Awesome. Thanks Lauren. Microwave sounds fabulous. lol

[Learning Finch]

when I make my egg food I boil my eggs. the hot boiling water for 15min kills any bad stuff on the shell. just in case I microwave the shell after removing the egg for 1 min on a low setting any higher and the shell starts to burn. I sometimes place shell in a coffee grinder or just crumble with my hand. either way the birds eat it. the larger pieces lets them choose if they want or need it. the powder mixed into egg food leaves them no choice. I also use fresh eggs from my chickens...not store bought no chemicals..

[debbie276]

I only use the shell from hard boiled eggs, they don't seem as sharp and brittle as the ones microwaved.

[elepaio4]

I too generally only use eggs shells that were boiled. I tend to peel off the membrane and then crush the shells into beak-sized pieces. The pieces are big enough to allow birds to choose whether they want to eat it or not, but small enough for them to manage the piece if they choose to do so.

[debbie276]

Mine love to break off pieces so I leave them as large as possible. It also gives them something to do for a while

[608duj]

I feed whole hardboiledeggs(with shell) every day but I tried a product called HATCHED ! from LFG.com and all my Gouldians seek it out. It is cooked crushed eggshells, very fine, by the pound. I do not eat enough eggs on my own to be worth processing the shells . You can get a free sample with an order from LGF. I feed it free choice in their grit cup.

[Colt]

The Hatched product sounds interesting. I need to order some ABBA nestboxes from her so maybe I'll try the sample out.

I haven't made my own boiled egg food yet. I'm such a chicken to try it. lol Go figure, I can whip up handfeeding formula and feed a baby Macaw but I can't make homemade egg food. I think I just want to see someone do it first. So one of you lovely bird chefs needs to make a youtube video of you whipping up a batch and then maybe it won't frighten me. That and my little stinkers hate to try anything new. And I hate to waste foods on them.

So since I didn't have any boiled shells available, and we scramble a dozen eggs at a time I rinsed and nuked for 3 minutes and put them through a food processor and gave them to the birds. They haven't picked at it much, but I kind of figured that was the way that would go. It's new and they have a cuttlebone as well.

[debbie276]

Not sure what is so scary about hard boiled eggs I hard boil eggs then peel them when cool. Then I run the egg through a garlic press so they come out kind of looking like worms. Others just use the back of a fork to mash the egg into pieces. I then add about a teaspoon of hand feeding formula per egg to it and mix. The handfeeding formula adds essential vitamins, minerals and protein to the egg without diluting the nutritional value.
I serve the egg about a tablespoon per pair in the morning on a dish spread thinly so the egg drys out rather then goes off. Next morning I take any left over (rarely ever happens) egg out and put in new.

[Colt]

Haha Debbie, that sounds easy....

My birds are just the most ungrateful little ingrates. lol They don't like to try anything new until it's sat there for days. I make a moist crumble out of their commercial egg food now, and add mealies, bloodworms, greens, and thinly sliced veggies to it and you'd think I had just put a dog poop in the cage. The avoid the bowl like the plague and eat everything else. When they are picking at the artificial plants they are so hungry they stare wistfully at the egg food and then and only then when it's been in the cage for well over 24 hours and completely dry will they eat it.

I just dread making something new (and wet) that can spoil that they will take forever to eat. Maybe if I pulled their food before bed and gave them the egg for like two hours in the morning they'd get desperate...

[debbie276]

Adding the handfeeding formula dries it out a bit, mine don't like anything wet either. Maybe if you keep it simple and mostly egg, sprinkle it over their favorite seed to entice them to try it. Once they are eating it well then add other goodies if you'd like. Just be careful not to dilute the nutrition with lower value foods.
good luck

[Colt]

Sounds good. I'll have to give that a try.

[jessybird]

I hard boil my eggs. I use natural eggs not the force fed ones, they cost a bit more but if you want to raise healthy finches its the way to go. First always have clean hands .I crumble my shells with my fingers, and i break up the egg white in chunks, the yoke i eat myself as they dont care for it. The female just loves it . Dont forget the fruits and veggies.

[Angela&Shalamar]

1 minute in microwave and then run them thru a coffee grinder.