We've had a few slipped yolks recently with a weak soft shell lurking in the coop. With no 'grit' provided, I thought I'd try the home ('frugal') remedy of feeding them back their shells. I figure why buy it when the chickens are already providing it to us...
It seems this problem is worse in summer - something to do with the calcium being retained by the hen and not putting much into the making of the egg.
So quite easy really and best done when you are about to use eggs for cooking as firstly, you are breaking the egg for a reason and secondly, generally you are about to heat the oven anyways!
Pop them on a baking tray and into the oven for about five minutes at medium temp. This will harden any leftover membrane still attached which makes it easier to crush up.
Next smash them up using a mortar and pestle - well I think that is the easiest way - until they are quite fine, but not powder.
Then hey presto - ready for feeding - just added them to their daily bucket of scraps.
I'm going to start doing this at least twice a week and see how things improve. Tony is a little sceptical of chickens eating their own eggs but from what I've also read sometimes they eat their eggs because their body is craving calcium.
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