Why are my eggs so hard to crack?

[Zenbirder]

One of my egg customers noted "I always wondered how they could take eggs on a covered wagon trip out west.... Untill I got REAL eggs from you!" Good nutrition, appropriate exercise and sunshine make eggs the way they should be is my answer, thick shells and a tough natural membrane.

 

[Half-a-dozen]

Our girls just started laying a few weeks ago now (Sooo eggcited!!!!) and that was the first thing I noticed after running them in from the coop to COOK THEM UP. I took the egg hit the counter and nothing!!! did it again and got a small crack third strike MUCH MUCH HARDER and walla!!!!
Yes, I too attribute it to the Good food and maybe that they are new layers with LOTS of Calcium in their system from all that great eating for weeks?????
The membrane thing is also tough and in fact the whole white, yoke and ALL is so tightly packed together togh and all that I can seperate the yoke to make egg whites just by picking the yoke out of the white goo with my fingers. Nothing breaks, the yoke stays in one solid piece. I thought that was pretty amazing......Cool chickens!!!!

 

[rooster-red]

I dropped 2 pullet eggs on the ground in the run tuesday, they rolled around but didn't crack.

Funny thing is my older RIR's lay eggs with really hard shells.

 

[ruth]

I too noticed this when we first started getting eggs. What we are all seeing is what a "real" natural free-range egg from a well fed and well exercised chicken is supposed to be. We are so used to those thin-shelled, runny whites, eggs that are sold in stores that we didn't realize that the shell and membrane is supposed to be tough and hard to crack and the white is supposed to stay together and be almost as thick as the yolk. Even my husband commented. He said "I used to watch all those old westerns and see the cooks hitting the egg two or three times on the pan before it would crack and think they must have made that up because I break store bought eggs just trying to get them out of the carton. When I first started cooking our "real" eggs I had to hit it two or three times on the pan to get it to crack and that's when I thought 'oh that's what that was all about' ". I even "warn" anyone I'm giving eggs to that they taste different, crack different, and look different so they don't just throw them away thinking there's something wrong with them.

 

[nccountrygirl]

I too am getting hard shelled eggs. I quess it's better than getting shellless eggs or ones that are paper thin.

 

[MissPrissy]

I have always had eggs with much harder shells than a commercial egg. I think part of the reason is that our backyard flocks get a MUCH better diet than commercially fed birds. Their sources of calcium are more than just oyster shells. We feed them yogurt and cheese and other milk products as well. Our birds have a better diet and provide us with a better egg with a tougher shell. Makes it nice to know that when the children help gather eggs they won't be so easy to break.

 

[jkm]

Well,
my first girls are laying, all four, and they are giving hard to crack, thick membrane eggs,
they are on a high protein, custom feed, no soy, from an organic farm near us,
(twice the price).
the eggs are hard! requires smashing, esp if hard boiled!
learned that today.

Hooray for great chickens!

 

[Rosalind]

Crack 'em on the edge of a bowl, not the countertop.

This is a blessing, trust me. I tend to leash my dog and take him with me when I'm running around doing chores, so when a 30lb. Pyrenees puppy decides, after you've filled your coat pockets with eggs, to wrap his leash around you and then run at full speed towards his ball, believe me you will be grateful not to have a mess in your coat pockets.

 

[schmoo]

Mine are hard too, but I figured it was a good thing. I just do a couple extra cracks. The yolks are much more firm also, I never have a yolk break on me when I flip eggs anymore