Egg Shells Help Your Worm Composting Bin

Egg shells are a fantastic source of calcium for your soil in addition to being beneficial to the worms digestive system and sex life, and reproductive process. They also help prevent high acid conditions that can harm your worms in your composting bins. 

However we need to undertake a little work to the egg shells before adding to our compost bins. I collect the egg shells until I have enough, I normally wash them out just after the have been used or place in a bowl of boiling water. Then I let them air dry and then finally I nuke them in the microwave a few times in 2 - 3 minute bursts to sterilise them as they can carry salmonella bacteria in and on them.

The alternative to using the microwave is to Preheat your oven to 400°F and bake your eggshells on a baking tray for 10 minutes. In addition to killing bacteria, this will also make the shells more brittle and easier to crush into small pieces.

Once they have been heated up and are totally dry, its time to add them to my mortar and pestle and grind them up and turn them into a powder as egg shells if just added to your compost bin they would take a very long time to decompose, and I want the egg shell grit to aid my worms. 

Crushed egg shells is what stone restoration companies used to grit blast old buildings, so be cautious about using a blender as it will scratch the blender jugs up.

Once I've ground up the egg shells enough I add to a take-a-way container and once full enough I take the crushed egg shells down to the allotment to add to my compost bins. 

If you can't be bothered to process your own egg shells you can always buy them pre processed. Below is the results of a google search. Crushed egg shells can also be used as a barrier to slugs.