Every part of the egg can be used for something. Even the eggshell. So don’t just toss them into the trash before considering how you can use them around the house and garden.
You can feed the eggshells back to the chickens as an excellent source of calcium to strengthen their egg shells. But if you do, make sure you grind or crush the eggshells thoroughly before tossing them into their food. If fed a whole or recognizable partial eggshell chickens can put together 2+2 amazingly quickly and decide to start eating their own eggs. I had this happen once and it took months of close monitoring and golf balls in the egg boxes to break Maxine of this bad habit. And if I’m not careful, the chickens on walkabout will get into the eggshell bucket I keep in the garage. (Yes, it’s kinda gross.)
You can use a coffee grinder, a blender or even a hammer and plastic bag to crush the shells. I like to pulverize the eggshells in my food processor with the steel blade. It makes a terrible racket and the shells will produce dust as they are pulverized. Let the dust settle for a couple of minutes before removing the top.
If you plan to keep the crushed eggshells around the house for use in cleaning or other household uses, it’s a good idea to spread the shells on a cookie sheet and bake at 250 for several minutes to kill any lingering harmful bacteria. I have read that some people also soak the eggshells in a bleach and water mix and let the shells dry, but that seems too time-consuming when I want to get a project started and finished quickly.
Our youngest Papillon, Sarah, with our eggshell collection.
There are many other uses for the eggshells.
- Add crushed or ground eggshells to your compost bin to enrich you garden compost.
- Put pulverized eggshells into the bottom of a hole where you are planting tomatoes to help prevent blossom rot, which is caused by calcium deficiency.
- Use eggshells as little seed starting cups.
- Toss whole eggshells into garbage disposal drains to help trap and carry solids away.
- Sprinkle crushed eggshells around plants to deter slugs and snails.
- Incorporate eggshells into craft projects.
