Hi Everyone,

 

I have read in few forum posts that we can give boiled crushed chicken egg shells, but whether we can also give crushed raw chicken egg shells after thoroughly washing and dried in hot sun light.

 

Also whether we need to remove the white thin layer inside the chicken egg, I think it is called as membrane. If yes, what is the easiest/simple way to remove this membrane from chicken egg shells.

 

Thanks,

Karthik

Hi Karthik, whenever I use an egg for cooking, etc after I have cracked it I put it in a little bowl and mirowaveit for 20 seconds, this dries it out and makes it brittle. Then I use a mortar and pestle to crush it as fine as possible. I keep a little jar of thes crushed shells and I sprinkle it on their green food or gvie it to them straight in a little dish

I do the same as MB

should you store it in the fridge?

No just make sure that after there isn't too much actual egg sitting in the shell before you microwave it or it won't dry out sufficiently, I keep mine in a little jar in the cupboard. I have however added one of those little silicone sachets that soak up mpoisture just in case

Thanks MB and Liv. I don't have a microwave and as alternative can I dry it in hot sun after clean wash of the cracked raw (not boiled) egg shells.

 

Also after seeing your posts, I understood that we can serve egg shells to birds without removing the inside thin lining/membrane. But I read that we need to remove this membrane before serving to birds. Personally I don't know the reason behind it.

Edited October 29, 200816 yr by Karthik

It needs to be a heated a bit, you could try putting it in a dry pot and heating it up for a minute stirring it around to keep the heat even.

The membrane is likely to go off even once cooked and dried, where as the shell on its own is less likely to grow bacteria.

If you dont have a microwave, then put them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes then let them sit on paper towel to dry out completely - in the sun would work, but they need to be cooked first :party0011:

Thanks MB and Liv.

 

So this is what I am planning to do:

 

A) Raw cracked chicken egg shells with membrane:

 

1) Wash the raw chicken egg shells with membrane in normal tap water.

2) Then boil the raw egg shells in water for 15 or 20 minutes, this will sterilize.

3) Dry this boiled eggs shells in the sun light.

4) Crush this dried egg shells and serve to our birds.

 

B ) Boiled chicken egg shells with membrane:

 

1) Clean wash the cracked boiled chicken egg shells with membrane in normal tap water.

2) Dry this washed boiled egg shells in the sun light.

3) Crush this dried egg shells and serve to our birds.

 

Does this above two set of steps looks good and if any corrections to be made, please let me know. :fear

Edited October 30, 200816 yr by Karthik

Thanks MB and Liv.

 

So this is what I am planning to do:

 

A) Raw cracked chicken egg shells with membrane:

 

1) Wash the raw chicken egg shells with membrane in normal tap water.

2) Then boil the raw egg shells in water for 15 or 20 minutes, this will sterilize.

3) Dry this boiled eggs shells in the sun light.

4) Crush this dried egg shells and serve to our birds.

 

A seems great to me but 15-20 mins cooking is overkill. 3-5 mins is ample to kill any bacteria. :fear

Also after seeing your posts, I understood that we can serve egg shells to birds without removing the inside thin lining/membrane. But I read that we need to remove this membrane before serving to birds. Personally I don't know the reason behind it.

 

The reason you shouldn't give raw eggs or eggshells with membrane to your budgies is due to the risk of Salmonella. Salmonella grows from the inside and should an eggs be infected the membrane will also be compromised.

Thanks Liv and Renee.

 

Okay Liv will boil it for 5 minutes and how about B, boiled egg shells.

 

The reason you shouldn't give raw eggs or eggshells with membrane to your budgies is due to the risk of Salmonella. Salmonella grows from the inside and should an eggs be infected the membrane will also be compromised.

So you are saying that membrane is not good/safe and if so I am back to my initial stages.

Okay Liv will boil it for 5 minutes and how about B, boiled egg shells.

 

No, you need to boil for 20 mins.

Surely 5 minutes would be enough Renee? They only recomend 5 minutes for sterilising baby bottles...

Surely 5 minutes would be enough Renee? They only recomend 5 minutes for sterilising baby bottles...

 

I actually looked into this subject a few months ago.

 

I wanted to know whether I could feed my budgies raw eggs so I called the top breeder in this State and asked my "silly" question. I was told in no uncertain terms that any part of a raw egg was potentially harmful because of the Salmonella risk and how it develops from the inside of the egg (not absorbed from the outside via the porous egg shell). And I was recommended to boil the eggs for 20 mins.

 

Up until very recently I boiled all my eggs for 20 mins, now I've discovered egg powder, so my egg boiling days are over!

MB and Liv, one of my friend has a microwave and agreed to help me on this. Could you please tell me what option/setting we need to select in microwave for 20 seconds.