Egg quality issues.

[Bonnie sue]

Hi I'm really new at a lot of this. I have a question for you pro's I have 3 Rhode Island Red hens that are established layers, I feed them food for laying and oyster shells for the calcium, We have noticed that some of the eggs crack very easy when I rinse them off in warm water to use them also there isn't a lot of covering(bloom?) on the eggs, very clean eggs, wondered is that a normal thing and wondered if we are doing right on the feeding, I give them cabbage and carrots and there egg shells too. They run outside in a fenced off run for them so there safe. What do I need to do for them? Thanks alot

 

[Poultry parent]

It should be layer feed, and supplemtal calcium. So you should be good. Do you wash the eggs as so as you get them? That washes off the bloom, and makes the eggs susceptible to bacteria

 

[arlenecruises]

Oh, are we not supposed to wash the eggs? Sometimes they are dirty.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

You really can't see or feel the bloom. We don't wash or refrigerate our eggs. We wash before use. Any egg/s that happen to be dirty is washed and refridgated until use.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The simple act of washing an egg should not weaken the shell. However the use of strong (or even weak) soaps & detergents are another matter.

Also many of today's chicken rations are formulated with the simple goal of snagging the flock keepers pocket book without giving a darn about whether the layer feed is good for your chickens.

This is especially true when the feed company touts some special or magical ingredient. I am talking to you Suzy Organic, and you too Little Johnny Vegetarian. In short if it sounds too good to be true then you can be 99.9% sure that it "AIN'T" true.

I have used sandpaper to clean special eggs that I really, really, really, wanted to hatch. And if you don't sand off too much shell you will still get a chick from most of these soiled eggs.

 

[Doc Schoepp]

I would definitely check your feed to start. We ran in to a similar issue when we first got our hens from a friend who had raised them from chicks for us (he was a lot more experienced and prepared for raising chicks). There should be a breakdown on a tag or on the bag of the nutritional percentages. The first food we picked up was an all organic, all natural, healthy chicken feed. What it should have said was 'bag of nothingness' because the nutritional values were worthless. We were getting many eggs where the shell was so soft you could barely pick them up without cracking. We switched over to a layer pellet with higher calcium and have been good ever since.

Stress can also thin the shells I have learned. Anything major change in their routine? Food? People? Predators? Just seeing predators near the coop even if they are 'safe' can still be enough.

 

[Poultry parent]

Oh, are we not supposed to wash the eggs? Sometimes they are dirty.

Its best to wash eggs only if they're really dirty. Washing them takes the bloom off, so they don't last as long.

 

[Cindy in PA]

You say they are established layers, so when did they start laying? Are they at the beginning or end of their laying cycle. This could make a difference. Also are they RIR or a sex linked chicken? Just asking, as my last sex linked red chickens laid like gang busters until their first molt at almost 2 years old. When they started up again the quality of their shells & contents suffered & never came back before I sold them several weeks ago. These chickens burn out fast. As long as you are feeding a balanced layer feed & additional oyster shells there isn't much else to be done.

 

[Bonnie sue]

thanks everyone, no I don't wash the eggs off until I'm ready to use them and its with warm water not cold. The chickens hens are about one and a half yrs old. I just got them from my niece about 4 weeks ago, so the place and people are not what they were used to and a new coop so maybe they need time. thanks

 

[Pork Pie]

This link may be interesting -
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems