Q: Why are these eggs hard to crack

[nwgirl]

Its our first week of egg collecting. Just one hen laying right now. Even though her eggs are small, the shell is good, but its the membrane that makes it difficult to crack open. Other than that the eggs are perfect. I have not been feeding them oyster shell, and she's still in transition from the grower feed to the layer feed, plus I feed my hens yogurt and cottage cheese 2-3 times a week. I'm wondering if this is normal for a beginning egg layer?

The Red Roost Inn web page.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

Welcome to the world of farm fresh chicken eggs! Its pretty normal, I've found for the shells to be hard, membranes tougher than the store bought eggs!

I think its great because the eggs can handle jostling alot more than a regular store bought egg.

Laurie

 

[nwgirl]

Hmm...I've had farm fresh eggs before, but they never this hard to crack.

 

[fshinggrl]

Mine definitely are strong.. a lot stronger than store bought. No complaints here though.

 

[imtc]

mine were like that at first too....takes a little while but they will thin out a bit. I think it's just because she is a new layer.

 

[NotTheMomma]

Most of mine are very hard. My DH's aunt was here this weekend, and we started baking. She couldn't believe how hard the shells were to break!

BUT, I've also had eggs without a shell, and shells so thin you could break them just picking the egg up! My flock have only been laying about 1.5-2 months. Seems like yesterday they started, but I know it's been awhile. I haven't gotten in thin shell, or shell-less eggs in a few weeks now.

 

[2txmedics]

My hens eggs were rock hard to break open...when they first started laying, then they got what I would call normal, and then alittle less harder, I started to give them calicuim in ther diet and now we are back to a nice firm shell....just about the right hardness.

reason for the oyster shell added in there feed, is that when they layed the eggs...they were laying and they were cracking when they landed in the nest...they move the shavings away from where they sit to lay....

 

[Clay In Iowa]

It means your birds are healthy and well fed. Some "farm fresh" eggs are produced by chickens that rarely see the outside. "Farm fresh"doesn't mean they were well cared for.

 

[cmjust0]

We're somewhat new to fresh eggs, and I'm amazed at how tough the shells are. Hard to crack is one thing, but check this out.....

Last night, our LGD was being picky about his food..he'd finished about 3/4ths, to where you could see the shiny center of the bowl but he'd left kibble all around the edges.. When it's dark out, he likes to keep his eyes and ears open and he can't do that and eat at the same time. Well, I just happened to find an egg in the coop so I decided I'd crack it into his food bowl.

I've done it before...he fricken LOVES it.

Anyway, I lean down and literally throw the egg at the center of his bowl from about 1' up -- PING! It hit the metal bottom and bounced back up at me like a superball, then landed in the rocks and grass outside the bowl..

I picked it up and it had one teeny puncture looking crack in it tht was maybe 1/4"x1/4" -- zero leakage. I was like "HOLY CRAP! LOOK AT THIS!"

Showed my wife, who heard the sound it made when it hit the bowl...she was pretty amazed, too.

I finally got it cracked over his food -- which took two good whacks on the side of the bowl -- and he proceeded to eat every last spot of kibble and licked the inside clean as a pin.

 

[nwgirl]

That's not an egg - that's a weapon!