4 Valuable Uses for Eggshells You May Not Know

I have a bowl full of eggshells from our chickens and ducks. Whenever we eat eggs for breakfast or use them to cook or bake, we just drop the eggshells in an open container like this big bowl. Then we leave them and let them dry out.

1. Use them in your garden

There are multiple things you can do with dried eggshells. You can use them as a mineral supplement in your garden. Our soil happens to be extremely high in calcium, so we don’t use them for this purpose, but many people could benefit from adding calcium to their soil.

Eggshells can be the perfect solution if you have low calcium in your soil. Add it to your soil around things like tomatoes and other vegetables. 

2. Add it to your compost

Eggshells are a great thing to add to your compost. They’re packed with calcium which strengthens the cell walls of your plants. They also have magnesium which supports the photosynthesis process.

The potassium in eggshells helps reduce water loss and wilting. They’re just packed with useful minerals that would be a shame to waste.

3. Feed it to your birds

This is a wonderful use for your eggshells, especially if you have chickens or poultry that you're feeding it back to. It takes a whole lot of minerals from their little bodies to make nice strong eggshells.

Chickens and ducks need calcium for their heart to function and to keep their bones strong. They should eat about three eggshells worth of crushed eggshells to get all their nutrients to stay strong and produce eggs.

The minerals that create the egg come from their bodies. They need to replenish those minerals in their system to continue to make nice strong eggs.

When our big bowl is filled with dried eggshells, I crumble them with my hands. This is the simplest way for me to crush them. I find our chickens prefer when there are small chunks as opposed to giving them ground powder.

Some people put their eggshells in a blender or food processor. I don’t find that to be necessary. Crushing them with my hands seems to do the trick. If you don’t want to use your hands a potato masher can get the job done.

Right now I’m using eggshells from our own chickens, but I have also done this in the past with eggs purchased from a grocery store. When I get eggs from an outside source, I always bake them before feeding them back to the birds. This helps kill any bacteria or germs that might have been on the surface.

It’s possible there are bacteria on the shells from our birds also but since the germs or bacteria are coming from them it won’t make them sick. It’s more of a concern if you’re bringing in foreign germs from another farm. 

When feeding your chickens eggshells from grocery store eggs, you would still dry them and crumble them, but then you should pop them in the oven at around 200 degrees and leave them in there for ten minutes.

I like to use cookie sheets to spread them out and pop them in the oven. They may get a little bit caramelized but that’s fine. 

You could probably even heat them at a higher temperature if you want. Just be sure you use sufficient heat to take care of any bacteria.

It's not necessary to heat them if you’re using them in your compost or garden.

When I put crushed eggshells out for the ducks and chickens, it does not last very long. They eat a whole bowl of eggshells within a day or two. They love it. 

4. Calcium supplements for people

Some people repurpose their eggshells and make their own calcium supplements. In addition to calcium, eggshells are also a good source of magnesium, fluoride, and other minerals.

Turning them into vitamins requires some processing. You need to dry them, spread them out on a baking sheet, and put them in the oven at 225 for 20 minutes to kill the bacteria. Then put it into a food processor until it’s a fine powder.

I've never used eggshells as supplements myself, but some people do this.

When I finish crushing the eggshells I bring them down to the chicken barn. Our chickens, Butterscotch, Hazel, and Tiramisu are all busy laying eggs.

I made them a feeder for their eggshells. The feeder is made from an empty plastic bottle. I cut the bottom off and put a couple of screws in the wall to hold it there. It's worked really well as a feeder.

We are very conscious of our waste. We try to make sure nothing that comes onto this property ever leaves it again. If we have wood scraps from building, we use the little pieces for other things, like building the ladder up to the chicken's perch. We even use sawdust for the composting toilet.

Anything that was organic material at one point breaks down in the compost and goes back into the garden. We do our best to be sure that everything continues to recycle itself through our property so we don’t have to send it to landfills.

Uses for eggshells

Now you know why you should never throw your eggshells away. They are definitely not garbage. In fact, they are a truly valuable resource. Repurposing your eggshells is also a great way to reduce the amount of waste you create.

I hope you found this article helpful and inspiring. If you know of any other uses for eggshells please share them in the comments section. I love hearing from you.