With 18 happy spoiled chickens outside, obviously we have a lot of eggs at any given time. This winter, we have been averaging a dozen eggs a day, with an even higher average in the summer time. While we sell the majority of our eggs, we always have plenty on hand for cooking ourselves. Along the same vain of wanting to reduce our waste, I started researching the various uses for egg shells (as they say: waste not, want not!) What I found was that there are so many uses for shells, I could write a book! But, today, I am going to focus on a couple of the uses, and the process of preparing them.
My primary use for shells is for gardening. Everyone knows that eggs are full of protein, minerals, and vitamins..and frankly, they are just good eats in general. The shells are hugely beneficial in multiple applications of gardening. Why? The shell is comprised of 96% calcium carbonate, which gives your plants a boost of calcium as well as leveling the soil ph.
For quick and easy use, throw the shells in your compost pile and they will decompose quickly to add calcium to your compost. Alternately, you can incorporate crumbled eggshells directly into the bottoms of your planting holes in the spring. Your tomatoes and peppers will thank you for the calcium boost, as they are easily affected by calcium deficiency as well as being prone to blossom end-rot (looks like a water spot at the end of the fruit, rotting the fruit from the outside in). Coarsely ground egg shells are also a slug deterrent, and scattering egg shells around plants that deer like to eat will also help deter them (deer do not like the smell of eggs).
Preparing the egg shells is just as easy as their applications in your garden. Some gardeners prefer to sterilize the shells prior to use to reduce the risk of salmonella bacteria. I’d like to tell you that I do not do this step because the risk is very low that bacteria will get into your soil, but the truth of the matter is I am a semi-lazy gardener, so I skip this step. If you prefer to sterilize them, simply bake them in your oven at 250 degrees fahrenheit for 10 minutes.
Sterilizing opens the door to other outdoor uses. You can use it in your wild bird feed, by mixing them into your seed or adding it to your suet mixture. Mama birds will thank you for the calcium boost in the spring when they lay their eggs. You can also use the shells to replace oyster shell in your chicken feed to reduce costs. Chicken owners all know that your laying hens need lots of calcium to stay healthy and lay strong shelled eggs. If you choose to do this, make sure your girls are healthy and that you wash and sterilize the shells as well as ensuring you crush them finely enough so they do not recognize that they are eggs. You do not want your girls getting into the habit of thinking eating eggs is okay.
Steps for processing egg shells.
Step 1: ( skip this step if you sterilize them) Dry your cracked shells. I use half of an egg carton to let the shells dry out. I usually let them dry for a week or so, before I move on to the next step.
Step 2: Crush your shells. I use a plastic bag to take the dried shells and crush them to a good size for storing.
Step 3: Store crushed shells. I like to store the crushed shells in a reused plastic container. This size is good to use as a pest or deer deterrent.
Step 4: Finely ground egg shells. My favorite grinder is my hand held Ninja. I am able to grind them in small batches.
Step 5: Storing for use. I use a second reused plastic container to store the finely ground shells.
If you wish, take a few minutes and tell me about your uses for egg shells in the comments section.
Until next time, happy homesteading!
Katie