FINCHforum

A bit over a year ago, a lovely lady from this forum rehomed her lonely zebra finch with me. She sent all of his supplies with him, which included a bag of Ecotrition oyster shell.

I've never bothered to use the stuff with finches. They seem to love their cuttlebone, so I consider that sufficient. However, I now have button quail. And with the hens laying daily, I like to make sure they have a constant source of calcium. (They don't seem as impressed with the cuttlebone.) I pulled out that little bag of Ecotrition oyster shell and found that it was a lovely, finely ground mix. Almost powder-like. So I ordered more.

And the stuff that came in the mail was hardly what I'd call "suitable for small birds." Apparently they changed their formula, so that their oyster shells are now more appropriately sized for a chicken.

So I figured I'd see what the small bird hivemind has to say on the topic of grinding oyster shells to a small bird friendly size.

Please note: I know that crushed eggshells, powdered calcium, etc are options. I'm looking to still get my $10 out of the 13oz bag that I bought.

Thanks guys!

I use a cheap windmill-type coffee bean grinder for both oyster shell and eggshells. I mostly give them a mix of both shells. A couple of pulses on the grinder and you can get it all as fine as you want.

paul-inAZ

That's what I was thinking about trying, but was worried that the shells would tear the coffee grinder to pieces. I tried breaking them up with a hammer and didn't get very far. You get decent longevity out of your oyster shell coffee grinders, though?

So far it is holding up with no signs of fracturing. I also wondered about the frantically spinning hard shell pieces ruining the plastic housing. The steel blade also still looks decent.

BUT it could depend on the size of the shell pieces you are dealing with. The "crushed" oyster shells I bought are fragments in the +/- 1/4 inch size. Perhaps much larger chunks would put more wear on the grinder.

WOW! $10 for less than a pound? Were the oysters included? For a couple of bucks I got a paper bag full of crushed shells. Maybe 5 pounds. Next time check out a farm feed store or some 'weed and feed' place that has supplies for chickens.

Higgins Sunburst mineral grit is enriched oyster shell for samll birds.

wildbird

Yes, the Sunburst brand is a good size for finches, and a good product, but sadly they have discontinued the larger bags, now only offering tiny little bags, that are hardly enough for anything really.

I bought some mineral mix from Abba, but the pieces were too big, so I gave it to someone with chickens. Then I bought some from ladygouldian.com which was Abba, but the pieces were for small birds. At the Orlando bird show I bought plain crushed oyster shell from West Coast Exotic Finches while they were still going there. I mix the Higgins in with it.

paul-inAZ

Yeah, I paid the high price because I expected to get the finely ground stuff I've gotten before. I would have just gotten a big bag for the same price at a Tractor Supply if I'd known I'd have to go to this trouble anyhow. But I had the bag opened before I realized what was going on, so here we are!

I'm thinking I'm going to try to find a cheaper coffee grinder at a thrift store or something. I'm glad to hear yours has held up--hopefully I have the same luck! Any idea what brand yours is, out of curiosity?

Mine is a Braun. Kurds and Mr coffee sell grinders very similar to it.
***Chuckle-- the spell checker thinks Krups should be 'Kurds"***
The list price is under $20. They're called blade type grinders.
Places like Target and Wallymart have them.