Can chickens eat lobster shells? Yes, your backyard chickens can eat oyster shells. They are rich in calcium which is important for egg-laying chickens and baby chicks.
Lobster shells are safe for your chickens to eat, but you will have to crush them into smaller pieces that will be digested easily.
It can be resourceful and fun to feed chickens with any food scraps that we do not eat. Lobster is a delicacy that many people across the world enjoy. However, their shells can not be consumed by human beings.
Most people will therefore eat the lobsters and throw away their shells. If you keep backyard chickens, you could have heard people talking about giving their chickens oyster shells.
Is it Safe to Feed Your Chickens Lobster Shells?
It will all depend on how you give lobster shells to your chickens. For instance, if you give your chickens the entire shell, they may peck at it, and a few pieces may get stuck in the throat.
Besides, it may be hard for them to digest large pieces of lobster shells. Besides, it can be hard for them to digest large pieces of the shells.
On the other hand, the shells can be easily digested if broken into smaller pieces, nearly the same size as grits.
If you are a chicken enthusiast, you could have heard different opinions from chicken keepers about feeding your chickens on lobster shells.
Some say they are fine, while others say they can be potentially harmful.
However, most keepers say that they give their chickens lobster shells without issues. Therefore, you do not have to worry about giving them to your birds.
If you have any concerns about lobster shells, you can ensure that they are safe by breaking them into smaller pieces.
Why Should You Feed Your Chickens on Lobster Shells?
Lobster is expensive seafood that is tasty. Because of this, most people eat lobster meat then throw away their shells. Instead of throwing them away, you can give them to your birds.
The shells contain a vital nutrient that your chicken may need in order to live a healthy life. They have a good calcium content that can help form the eggshells for your hens.
Chickens need grits in their diet to digest any food they eat. A few commercial grits usually add calcium to the mix of chickens that are laying eggs. This makes a lot of sense because hens that lay eggs need lots of calcium in their diet. Lobster shells will provide a lot of calcium to your chickens.
Can Baby Chicks Eat Lobster Shells?
Yes, chicks can also eat lobster shells, just like mature chickens. However, it is essential to wait until they are about three weeks old. Before feeding them lobster shells, you must ensure that they have started eating other feeds besides the usual starter feeds.
If you are feeding your chicks lobster shells, it would be better to crush them into tiny pieces. You will have to make sure that it is almost the same size as grits. Crushing them into small pieces will ensure that they are digested quickly.
How To Prepare Lobster Shells For Your Chickens
It is simple to prepare lobster shells for your chickens. You can choose to feed them either cooked or raw lobster. However, you will have to ensure that the lobster shells are not spoiled before preparing them for your chickens.
Spoiled lobster will more likely be contaminated with harmful bacteria that might lead to your chickens becoming sick.
There are two main methods to feed lobster shells to your chickens. They are as follows:
Give Your Chickens the Lobster Shells by Themselves
You can choose to give the lobster shell to your chickens as a whole so that they peck on it on their own.
Besides, you can crush the shells into tiny pieces before giving them to your birds. If you give it as a whole, they will peck at it and eat its pieces.
This is one of the best ways to keep your chickens busy throughout the day.
On the other hand, crushing the lobster shells into smaller pieces before giving them to your chickens will make them easy to digest and eat. You will have to take your time to crush the shells until they are in tiny pieces.
After that, you can toss the pieces onto the ground or place them into their feeders. You can be sure of your chickens enjoying feeding on this delicacy.
Mix the Lobster Shells with other Feed
The second method of feeding your chickens on lobster shells is by mixing them with other feed meant for chickens.
If you have chicks or are keeping egg-laying hens, this is one of the best ways to introduce calcium to their diet.
If you are using this method, you will have to crush the shells into small pieces before mixing them with the feed.
You can use a hammer to them into small pieces then add them to the chicken’s commercial feed. For fruits and vegetables, you can sprinkle crushed shells over them.
What Other Seafood Can Chickens Eat?
Other than lobster shells, you can feed your chickens on other types of seafood. Here are some of them:
Crabs
Crabs are among the best seafood that you can give your chickens. They will make a good treat for your birds.
You can toss any leftovers that you have to chickens, and they will enjoy eating it. Chickens usually enjoy eating crab shells as well as the flesh.
Shells are beneficial for them to eat because they contain a lot of calcium. If you have hens that are laying eggs, crab shells will help in the formation of the eggshells.
They can also be very vital for your chicks. Before giving the shells to your birds, you will have to crush them into tiny pieces that can easily be fed on and digested.
Salmon
Salmon will also make an excellent treat for your birds like crabs. It has high amounts of vitamins, minerals, and proteins. This makes it one of the best seafood for backyard chickens since it contains several nutrients.
You can choose to cook it before feeding your chickens. Besides, you can give your backyard chickens raw salmon.
Oyster
Oyster is among the most popular seafood that backyard chicken keepers give their flocks. Many people across the world enjoy eating it too.
People usually eat oyster flesh and toss the flesh away. You can feed the shell to your chickens instead of throwing it away. They will enjoy eating them.
Oyster shells usually have high amounts of calcium that can be vital to your chicks and egg-laying hens. It will aid in the formation of strong and healthy eggshells.
It will be better if you crush them into smaller pieces before giving them to your chickens.
How to Feed Your Backyard Chickens
If you are thinking of how you can feed your backyard chickens or you are keeping them for the first time, here are a few things that you need to know.
The largest part of the diet of your birds should come from commercial feed such as layers feed and chick starter feed. Feeding them on feeds that come in pelleted form is a convenient and
easy way to make sure that your backyard chickens get the necessary nutrition they require.
You will have to feed them on a layer feed if you have mature hens. This will ensure that they get all the necessary nutrients such as calcium, proteins, and other ingredients that your birds require in order to lay fresh and best-quality eggs.
You can supplement their diet by feeding them lobster shells and oyster shells.Generally, the ingredients of a typical chicken feed contain a larger percentage of grains such as sunflower seeds, maize, wheat, oats, and several other ingredients.
Chickens enjoy pecking on their feeds; thus, grains are a better option. In addition to the daily feed, you can give your chickens anything that is safe for them to eat in order to add some variety to their diet.
For most chicken keepers, this typically means giving their chickens table scraps and leftovers such as lobster shells. Some other foods that are good for your backyard chickens include vegetables and fruits.
They usually provide a wide variety of good nutrition and are easy to feed to your backyard chickens.
Conclusion
Chickens can eat lobster shells. If you are a backyard chicken keeper, you should not be worried about giving them to your birds. It is a good way of using lobster shells instead of throwing them away. Besides, they are rich in calcium which is important for your egg-laying hens as it helps in the formation of a strong eggshell.
It can help if you crush the shells into smaller pieces before giving them to your chickens. It would be best if you watched your chickens at first to see how they are taking it.
