Egg quality

[MarkButcher]

Well, I'm actually asking a question, not an article, but heck if i can figure out where and how, so I'll ask here.
My flocks young, about 8 months old or so, and when we go to use the eggs, when we break them, the shells nice and hard, but the whites are pretty watery, and the yolks, pretty fragile.
Not sure if the whites and yolk deal is the nature of a fresh egg, or if i need to be adding something to their diet more then their commercial lay pellets and all day long free range opportunities.
Egg production numbers are fine, even tho they'll pretty much skip the lay pellets and go to free ranging asap, at the 1st opportunity, including jumpimg the chicken pen fence to get out into the chicken yard, without finishing the lay pellets.
Thoughts?

 

[aart]

Well, I'm actually asking a question, not an article, but heck if i can figure out where and how, so I'll ask here.

Yep, you've started new thread to ask a question, perfect!
Articles are a different thing.

It's hard to say just what is making the yolks weak and the whites watery.
@ChickenCanoe is good(I think) at nutrition stuff.
Knowing exactly what layer you're feeding would help.
Brand/model, protein percentage, and MFG date(marked on ingredient tag or sew strip at bottom of bag).

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Where are you located and what has the temperature been?
High temperature will break down albumen and can even cause the yolk to rupture prematurely. Lengthy storage will cause this too.
The quality of albumen and yolk are primarily a function of nutrition, temperature and hen age.
I would definitely look at the mill date on the feed bag and pay attention to that when you purchase. I've seen bags of feed at some stores that were well over a year old. That age will cut deeply into the nutrition contained, especially vitamins and amino acids.
I think if the feed is fresh, almost all manufacturers include the correct amount of all nutrients hens are known to need and sufficient for producing eating eggs. It may not be sufficient for hatching eggs.
Normally, the younger the bird, the better the quality of the albumen and yolk.
Eggs contain primarily two types, thin and thick albumen. The thick surrounds the yolk and the thin is adjacent to the shell membrane.
In general, pullets/young hens with good nutrition and frequently collected eggs would be expected to have good quality firm albumen and nice high yolks with a fairly strong vitelline membrane (that which contains the yolk).
I imagine it is possible that while free ranging they may be consuming some anti-nutritive compounds.