Tuff Cochin Eggs

[RussC]

My Cochin's have just started laying eggs and I have gotten about a dozen so far. The question I have is this; there seems to be some kind of membrane on the inside of the shell that makes it very difficult to crack the egg open. I have to break the shell and then puncture the membrane to get the egg out. Is this normal? Will it always be this way? I have got to tell you, the shell is very harder and the membrane thing makes it hard to get into these things!

 

[lynxs1981]

The first eggs chickens lay are always known to have some kind of weird characteristics to them. These usually go away after a short while.