I've had a few chickens for more years than I can usually remember, and, I have read a ton of info on how to get the egg shells to be stronger/harder/thicker; none of which has ever really applied to my almost feral flock.
This bunch of year old egg makers are turning out eggs that are almost unbreakable, not only are the shells them selves hard as glass, the membrane has to be torn also; leading to many scrambled eggs and not so many "over light" eggs.
A quick search of the internet returned no pertinent results.

So... any one out there have experience with Super Egg Shells and know a cure?

>>ahh, the question of feed; milo, corn, and 120A of rocky woods, with an occasional feed of mash. And the water is limestone spring.

It sounds like they have a good diet. If they are young pullets starting to lay or haven't been laying long, it's normal. As their eggs get bigger they will get softer.

Catch, what you say is somewhat true and these have only been laying since February, but I have never had eggs this hard before, whack them on edge of skillet only gets a peck hole, leading to another whack and mostly to broken yolk and shell parts in the skillet.
I've always had hard shelled eggs, just not this hard and the membrane is tougher than duck eggs.
Membrane is almost as thick as 'soft shelled' egg.

i wonder about the limestone spring maybe.

Make the "first whack" harder.

Wow, Iv'e had them hard before, maybe not that bad though. I would give it some time and see if the calcium spreads out when the eggs get bigger in size and will thin them some. That's about all I can think of unless maybe their diet may change for summer. Do they free range at all?

Check your feed if your feeding them that store bought stuff and see what they have in it, my Purina feeds have oyster shell added in the feed.

I have wondered if they are getting to much calcium this way, but my birds have all used it for at least 30 years. It's why I don't feed oyster shell. Dark to dark free run anywhere they want to go. I've been expecting them to get thinner as the gals got used to laying but it almost seems the other way round. Feeding whole grains 90% of the time .. store bought though.

I'll have to look at calcium content of alternative feeds like oats or wheat..

Might try giving them some DDT to allegedly thin that shell.


By the way......................anyone who eats eggs over light or easy has bigger problems than thick shells !!

Eggs are not meant as a solid food; God intended them as a sauce for the steak and biscuits. They got be really runny for good soppin.

Only have experience with shells that are thin and often broken in the nest box.

So; no one has any good ideas on getting thinner shells/membranes?

That hard whacking breaks the yolk supports and the yolks run. Besides customers don't like tough to open omelets.

I tried and will say Happy Birthday, many more my friend!!

Take advantage of their talent and sell championship egg pockers online.



I’d wonder if the limestone spring isn’t extra limestoney lately. Get them some bottled water for a few months to see if it improves....... I know, you don’t have to say it——I wasn’t helpful.

Hey ya gave it a shot, Mr Duck!
Actually the stalactites have been growing more over the last few years, so over abundance of calcium could be in the water. I'll probably switch springs for their water supply and see if anything changes.

Thank you sir.

The only fix I have is to keep extra eggs in the fridge for a couple weeks and start rotating eggs daily or weekly. We do this with our eggs to make them easier to peel after hard boiling. I have eggs that are at least a month old and are much easier to peel.

Stop cross breading the chickens with guinea fowl! Them guineas had the hardest shell I ever come across. I don't know how a chick ever made it out of an egg alive!
Dennis

Give them soft water .

Here's a quote I pulled from a google search. No idea the validity, but the author seems sure of him/herself.