Ever since we got our new baby chicks I have been thinking about having our own eggs again.
I remember when we used to raise chickens and sell their eggs, people would tell me there was such a difference between farm fresh eggs and store bought eggs.
They were totally right.
Even though our chickens aren’t old enough to lay eggs we have been blessed recently with some farm fresh eggs. My brother’s family was given nine laying hens and they have been sharing the eggs with us.
While I love using the eggs, I have never really thought much about the shells. Normally, I just throw out/compost eggshells.
However, did you know that eggshells are an excellent source of calcium which is great for plants, especially tomatoes?
Not only are they great for tomatoes, but they can be used for a whole host of other things in the garden.
Upon further research I found out that there are many more things that can be done with eggshells like feeding them back to your chickens, using them as a source of calcium, and even putting some in with coffee grounds while brewing a cup of coffee to make it less bitter.
Needless to say, I was convinced that saving eggshells is a good thing and, after reading the following links, I bet you will start saving them, too.
- How to Prepare Eggshells for Reuse (via Your Thriving Family). This post shows you step by step how to remove the membranes from inside the eggshell. This is important if you plan to feed them back to your hens in place of oyster shells.
- How to Reuse Eggshells (via Live Renewed, written by Sara of Your Thriving Family). In this post you will find 9+ ways that you can reuse eggshells, including homemade chalk. I think the kids and I will definitely have to give that a try.
- Green Garden Prep (via Slightly Steady). This post has several ideas for green gardening. Using eggshells is number 2 on the list.
- 30+ Things to Do with Eggshells (via the Prairie Homestead). Like the title says, there are over 30 things you can do with eggshells. Several of these ideas surprised me, especially number 6.
- Flower Arrangements in Eggshells (via Martha Stewart). I would never have thought of using eggshells as vases, but these are gorgeous.
- Eggshell Pendants (via Happy Hour Projects). Here is another idea I would never have thought of, applying eggshells to wooden disks to make necklaces.
- Spring in an Egg (via Small + Friendly.) This tutorial shows how to use eggshells as seed starters.
- A Sculpture That Tackles an Age-Old Question (via Food Republic). This link is just for fun because it has pictures of a chicken made out of eggshells. 🙂
Before I go I wanted to share one more cool thing pertaining to eggs.
Did you know that you can use an empty water bottle to separate egg yolks from the whites?
Believe it or not you can, and it is really quite easy. Here’s a short video I made to show you how it’s done.
If you are reading this via email or in a feed reader you may need to click over to view the video.
How do you separate eggs? Also, do you save eggshells?
