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What to do with all those eggshells???

 
Larry Jackson
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Some time ago I was interested in the idea of farming worms for the garden, (and fishing). I read that the washed eggshells may be ground into a fine grit like fine cornmeal as an amendment to feed for the worms to aid in their digestion and calcium. This adds to calcium for the garden, but I do not yet know if it has changed the PH much of my garden soil. I have many worms in my garden now from composting, so I generally just keep adding them when I empty the scrap bag into the compost pile about every 4 or 5 days.

What do you do with your leftover eggshells?
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Mike Haasl
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I spread them liberally around tomato plants and apple trees.  I've heard it's good for the apples and the blossom end rot is substantially reduced on years when I use it on tomatoes.  At least in my experience...

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Stacy Witscher
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I spread them everywhere. The local birds come and eat many of them, but that's fine with me. Wild birds need calcium too. Right now, it's mostly wild turkeys that are devouring them.

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Jen Fan
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We feed all our eggshells right back to the chickens
 
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I spread eggshells in a ring around tender transplants in the theory that slugs don't like to cross the little sharp edges - if it does stop the slugs, the sow bugs eat the transplants instead, so now I need something quick and easy to discourage them!

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Michael Moreken
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Sprinkle around my garden beds and into composting.

Bless your Family,
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Dan Boone
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Larry Jackson wrote:I read that the washed eggshells may be ground into a fine grit like fine cornmeal as an amendment to feed for the worms to aid in their digestion and calcium.



It may be that the worms need fine grinding.  But for feeding to chickens or putting into compost, my mom just kept the eggs in a coffee can (metal, this was a long time ago) and crunched them up from time to time with the bottom of whatever glass bottle was handy on the counter.  (Improvised mortar and pestle.)  She got them down to the point where the biggest pieces were about the size of a grain of rice.  

I don't have chickens, but I've been thinking that including eggshell grit in the mix we feed our wild birds might help their reproductive success.  

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Mike Haasl
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The half egg shells go right in our chicken compost bucket and given directly to the birds.  They grab the shells first and make short work of them.  No need to crush them for chickens from what I can tell.

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Heather Sharpe
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Ours mostly just go in the compost.
For giving them to wild birds, the Audobon society and many birders recommend putting the eggshells in a 250 degree oven for about 10 minutes before putting them outside. This is to avoid introducing any bacteria or whatnot from the chickens to the wild birds.

I would guess that isn't necessary if one is just giving the eggshells back to the chickens from whence they came?

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Hester Winterbourne
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Mike Haasl wrote: No need to crush them for chickens from what I can tell.



The reason for crushing them that I was given is that it's not a good idea to encourage hens to see large egg shells as food, in case they decide to try it when there's still an egg inside.
 
Mike Haasl
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I've heard that too but in my experience (only three years and 12-20 birds) it hasn't been a problem.  If an egg breaks in the nest box, they'll eat it but I don't see them doing it on purpose.  Even if I didn't give them shells, the occasional broken egg would be a better path to the dark side for them.

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Huck Johnson
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I toss shells in the chicken bucket so the chickens eat them with the other scraps. No problems with egg eating. And some of the hens have done it before.
 
jordan barton
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Right now our egg shells are going to our pigs. They eat them up and they disappear.  Otherwise they were just going into the compost as has been said already.

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Timothy Norton
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The majority of my shells end up in my compost pile. I keep a compostables bucket in my kitchen so it is convenient to just toss all my cooking scraps in it before being added to the big pile.

If I am having some thin-shelled eggs from my laying hens, I might give them some crushed up shell to supplement their oyster shell ration as well.

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Riona Abhainn
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I dry them, crunch them up, and then grind them in the coffee grinder and add the powder to calcium loving plants.

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Ra Kenworth
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I just cracked 24 eggs for my bread pudding (diced stale bagels, a layer of discount grapes individually cleaned up and diced, over ripe pears, diced day old sourdough loaf) no sugar necessary and enough room for a baked lunch beside it in the oven!
Those egg shells go directly into cold water, then rinsed, and dried on top of the stove, ready for crushing for my soil building staff (a large flock of pigeons)
I try not to waste any shells at all, but I boil a lot of eggs and unless they are promptly dunked into cold water and peeled right away, the egg sticks then it needs to go in the compost. That's okay though, I usually start tomatoes and peppers on top of the compost pile, protected by a wire cage to keep away scavengers, and they can benefit from the discarded eggshells.

Bread pudding is also a great way of using up undercooked / lead weight homemade bread that didn't quite turn out as expected!
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Dry out the eggs while lunch is cooking!
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I love bread pudding! Zero waste at its best !
I love bread pudding! Zero waste at its best !
 
Nick Mick
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I use a brush torch to toast them up in the driveway then crush and give it to the chickens. I heard you can make calcium acitate by leaving egg shells in vinegar.
 
Nathanael Szobody
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Pack them in a jar,  cover in apple cider vinegar. They will dissolve. Mix into your favorite concoction or smoothie.

-Nathanael

 
craig howard
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Glad to hear people aren't having a problem with feeding them to chickens and encouraging them to eat eggs.
My grandma said to always roast them first.

I've heard the "skin" on the inside is high in collagen and might be easily separated with acid (maybe vinegar.)
 
Jay Angler
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craig howard wrote: My grandma said to always roast them first.


That's the easy way to ensure they aren't carrying disease such as salmonella.

If they're going back to the chickens, I use sun solarization for several weeks to do the same job. My friend always bakes hers.

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Jackson Bradley
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Ra Kenworth wrote:I try not to waste any shells at all, but I boil a lot of eggs and unless they are promptly dunked into cold water and peeled right away, the egg sticks then it needs to go in the compost.



I like to use the oldest eggs we have (from our chickens) for boiled eggs. They peel easier.

Also, I do not do an ice bath. I boil them and then put the in the fridge for 24-48 hours before I try to peel them. It works just as well as an ice bath if you can plan ahead. maybe the ones that you feel didn't get dunked fast enough, put in the fridge and try them a day or two later and see if that worked.

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Sher Miller
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I agree that giving eggshells back to chickens is a good idea. They don't have very big brains, so the shell only needs to be broken a little so they don't recognize them as eggs. Lack of calcium is a major reason why they would eat their own eggs.

I use my eggshells on plants (and sometimes in animal water) as Water-Soluble Calcium (WCa). In Korean Natural Farming (KNF), it is generally given as part of a dilute formula, depending on the plant's life stage, and for conditions such as blossom end rot.

The shells need to have all membranes removed. I have recently come across "phoenix skin?" where the membranes are used for skin treatment/care. I haven't looked into that yet. Please share if you know about it. Anyway, if the membranes are not fully removed, they will add gick to the solution, and it will degrade and get nasty.

The shells need to be slightly toasted (to a light brown) to chemically alter the calcium. This is also true if you make this with another source of calcium carbonate, like oyster shells.

Keep the shell pieces rather large. Add fermented vinegar (distilled vinegar is used as an herbicide) in a ratio of 1 part shells to 10 parts vinegar. The shells will start to bubble.

Once the bubbles stop, the vinegar is saturated with calcium. Decant and spray on plants diluted 1:1000. You can add more vinegar to the shells and keep doing this until the shells are gone.

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Ra Kenworth
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Thanks Jackson! I will indeed try the fridge trick for peeling! That's much appreciated 👍
 
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