Just started grinding eggshells!

[Deleted]

I've been saving my eggshells for a few months now. I eat a lot of eggs, and I feed them to the ferrets pretty often as well. I thought I'd share how my first experience making eggshell powder turned out!

What I do is after I crack open an egg, I toss the shells into a paper bag. They pile up in the bag over time, and they dry out pretty quickly here, since I live in a dry climate:


Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr

I bought a Mr. Coffee Burr Mill grinder, but it doesn't work with larger pieces of shell, so I used a 3 step process. First, I smash the shells with my hands until they are in reasonably small pieces that fit well into my blender. Then I process them in the blender, which gets the shell fragments small enough for the coffee grinder.

Step 1, hand-crushed, into the blender:

Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr

After being blenderized:

Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr

Now, they go into the Mr. Coffee:

Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr

And out of the coffee grinder comes a lovely eggshell powder, perfect for mixing into soups, folding into ground beef, or just dusting chunks of meat with!

Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr

It's great to have a convenient and cheap source of calcium, because not only do your ferrets need calcium, but their poops will be firmer and make less of a mess if they get some bone or eggshell in every meal

[Sherry]

Thanks for detailing this mike! I have to remember to sticky this when back on the comp, lol

[Deleted]

Does it have to be this powdered?? Mine looked more like after being in the blender..he has been eating the soup without any issues.

[Sherry]

The more it is powdered, the better they can absorb the calcium.

[RedSky]

Are they okay without being washed and stripped of the membrane on the inside of the egg shell? I have no idea about preparing them for ferrets, just for my snails.

[crazylady]

you have the perfect blend there mikey lol ( thats how fine I get them lol ) and its surprising just how many eggs a person can go through but its also more surprising just how long that will last your ferrets ! I normally rinse mine redsky but a slight trace of membrane wont hurt them as long as its dry keep up the good work mikey your ferrets will thank you for it and there bones will show they have it too lol take care bye for now
Bev

[RedSky]

Can you give them too much? How much should you feed them?
I think per meal is a good idea so they have consistent stools, but sometimes this must be difficult.
I take it, it shouldn't be given with meals with bone in?

[Sherry]

Generally it is only given during the transition period. Eggshell does not provide all the nutrients needed over the long term. For that they need actual raw bone.
And yes, you can give them too much. No more than 1/2 tsp per 8 oz of meat

[RedSky]

Thanks Sherry

[Thérèse]

Just my need to know, what would happen if you gave to much?

[Sherry]

First to be noticed would be constipation. Hard and dry stools, which can be almost white in colour.
Next would be hypercalcemia. Not a good thing at all
This is for humans, but it would be very similar for most mammals: m.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/heartandblood/203185.html

[kattadragon]

Thank you for the step by step. I offered some egg and raw blended meat to my fuzz butts, the girls that it was good, the boys think I have lost my nut!!! I just wanted to check the waters with them. This is awesome for the eggs, we eat a lot of eggs as well. Thanks again!!