Fanny Bay Oysters has been a fixture in the area for decades, churning out produce and – for the most part – simply discarding mountains of empty shells. “Before, we’d actually pay to get rid of them, they’d go in the trash, they’d end up in the landfill,” says the company’s director of quality assurance Jeff Armstrong. Armstrong says the company began experimenting with crushed shell debris and using it to grow new oysters. Soon, they were approached by landscapers who wanted old shells for gardening, and then by chicken farmers. “We’ve had a lot of interest,” says Armstrong. “We just discovered that it’s a great way to get extra calcium for the chickens.” Production is increased to crush the shells and turn them into feed, which will be used to increase the calcium intake of the chickens, making the shells of the eggs they lay harder. “It’s great for the chickens because it’s a great product and they absolutely need it, you can see the difference already in their shell,” says Hilary Benesh, owner of Cat and Crow Farm. Benesh says she has been having trouble getting oyster shells from her regular feed suppliers because of a shortage that started during the pandemic. “When we didn’t have it, we asked them when it would be available and they didn’t know, so we had to hold on for a few months,” he says. Benesh was surprised to learn that there was no previous supplier for the oyster shells. “There are so many different oyster farms on the island and you see oyster shells spread out everywhere. I thought, of course, that it would be easy for us to keep the supply going, but when the feed stores were running short, it made me wonder, “where is it really coming from?” says. In addition to chicken feed, which Fanny Bay Oysters makes available through Buckerfields, the company believes there could also be a future in providing products such as oyster meal to cover roads, parking lots and bocce ball courts. “It’s been great to see it go from a potential waste to something that’s useful almost everywhere,” says Armstrong.
