FINCHforum

Hi Everyone,

I have read in few forum posts that we can give boiled crushed chicken egg shells, but whether we can also give crushed raw chicken egg shells after thoroughly washing and dried in hot sun light.

Also whether we need to remove the white thin layer inside the chicken egg, I think it is called as membrane. If yes, what is the easiest/simple way to remove this membrane from chicken egg shells.

Thanks,
Karthik

You don't need to remove the lining/membrane.

You can provide the chicken egg shells either boiled or nuked for 2 - 3 minutes. These can also be provided either as large pieces or 1/2 shells or they can be crushed up and mixed with the hardboiled egg (mashed or processed for a couple of seconds).

Thanks Liz. But I have read that we need to this egg shell lining/membrane before serving to birds, personally I am not sure what is the reason behind this. So only I have started this new thread.

Nver herad of removing the membrane. Been giving our birds shell and membrane for years. Can you provide the source of this information. I would like to challenge it.

Since I'm not supposed to eat raw eggs I wouldn't think it would be good for my birds eiher. With that said. . .I wouldn't give raw egg shell to my birds. Bacteria needs to be killed that may be on the shell. Drying in the sun wil not create enough heat to kill bacteria or other harmful germs. I would only offer shell that has been sterilized with intense heat from boiling our nuking. Evden that may not be full proof, but it increases the odds in our favor.

Sean

Thanks Sean.

I got this info from one of the Budgies forum and since egg shell membrane is more of organic material, which can be source of hostile germs. Looks like probably they are not much aware that we can serve egg shells with membranes, basically what I feel is that they don't want to take a risk.

Okay after seeing your post I am now soo confident that we can serve our birds chicken egg shells with membrane. So this is what I am planning to do:

1) Wash the raw chicken egg shells with membrane in normal tap water.
2) Then boil the raw egg shells in water for 15 or 20 minutes, this will sterilize.
3) Dry this boiled eggs shells in the sun light.
4) Crush this dried egg shells and serve to our birds.

Does this above order of steps looks good and if any corrections to be made, please let me know.

i have never boiled my egg shells.Does this make them brittle?I always treat mine in the oven this makes them brittle.And have never pealed the membrane,I do a good dozen a week this way.

Thanks Gomer.

What setting/option we need to select in microwave oven for 2 to 3 minutes of time. Also whether we can preserve these crushed egg shells with membrane for future use to birds.

When I do eggshells in the microwave, I set it on high for 2-3 minutes. You have to watch it over 2 minutes, as the eggshells can burn. They are then very brittle. I place them in a ziplock freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Then I put them in a plastic storage container, and they keep for a long time at room temperature. I usually add them to the mineral cups.

Thanks Sally. Interested to know more about mineral cups.

When I speak of mineral cups, I just mean the little cups or dishes I hang in each cage in which to place minerals--oystershell grit, eggshells, etc. I use a commercial mineral mix right now, but I don't know what your resources are like. You don't need to give gravel to finches, like you do for budgies, but they like mineral mixes. Oystershell is excellent for calcium, if you can't find it at a pet supply place, look into stores that sell feed for poultry.

Sorry for not responding sooner. Been working on getting the store ready for the Grand opening and then actually opening the new location.

Looks like the steps you mentioned will work for sterilizing egg shell just fine. It also look like you got a couple of other tips that as well.

You moight consider telling the other forum to come over to the finch side and see what we are cooking.


Sean

Do any of the things they feed hens in the egg factories (antibiotics or whatever they feed them ) in any way affect the egg shells?
Donna

DKC wrote:Do any of the things they feed hens in the egg factories (antibiotics or whatever they feed them ) in any way affect the egg shells?
Donna

I don't know of any problem with it. I use regular eggs from the grocery store, not organic.

Ditto what Sally said - I use normal eggs from the grocery story - not organic.

From my experience, the free range shells seem to be thicker, but other than that we have not noticed any difference. We now have 13 chickens of our own and should start getting our own eggs from them in December. I'll let you know if they seem to have thicker shells or nor since they are cage free and semi-free range.

Sean