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Thin shelled chicken egss?

4K views 30 replies 15 participants last post by  bigwheel 
#1 ·
Guys, my girls are laying great, and I have an abundance of eggs. Like three dozen today. I tried hard boiling a dozen a few days ago...
FAIL. They are so thin shelled. I tried the method someone told of, where you boil them, then cool off with water, then shake the heck outta the pan with a lid on them, the membrane sticks to the shell. It was a total wash, I ended up pissed off, crunched up that whole dozen and gave them back to the chickens.
I do give them shells, I also feed them Purina, the one that says "healthy egg production" or something.
What else can I do?
Note, we don't wash, just rinse any serious poop off, and keep rotated in fridge.
I don't know if I can get the wife to go the in refridgerated way.
Also, what way "to boil"?
All in the pot, then water onto stove?
I tried boiling water first, then lowering eggs in, that didn't work, some busted and made a mess.
Room temp before boiling?
 
#3 ·
What are you feeding them if the shells are thin generally they are missing stuff in the feed like oyster shells. You may try making oyster shells available to them at this point don't mix it in feed put offer it free will to them. Give it a little time to work .
Also make sure you using a good layer feed.
 
#8 ·
Bingo!!
If you want to have easier to peel hard boiled eggs, let them sit in the fridge for at least two weeks.

Also, the protein percentage of the feed you are giving is very important. 16% is great. You also want it to say Layer Pellets on the bag.
If you are using Purina, try their Layeena With Omega 3. We have used that in the past, but it requires a 60 mile round trip to Tractor Supply, so we just buy local now. Southern States brand,

Crushed oyster shells.
Buy a 5 or 10 pound plastic bag of scratch feed and scatter some of that for them to peck at.

Do your birds get outside in the grass and dirt every day? Ours only "go up" at night, or if another flock is out.

And, Bigwheel has a point. When the hens get toward the end of their laying, the shells get really thin. You should be able to get 3 or 4 good laying years, IF you DO NOT trick them to lay in the winter by keeping a light on in the coop.
 
#11 ·
They are all from last year, three hens from the spring, and four from the fall, the spring girls really started laying good at the end of the fall, and the latest fall girls are dropping almost one a day.
Average six a day from the seven chickens and a duck. I don't know if the duck is boy or girl?
 
#10 ·
Thanks guys.
I will look at the bag I have to buy today, but its Purina Layer, and I do remember I looked, it was 16%.
No, they don't get out every much, I am never home during the day, and am scared of the neighbors dog, and that hawk I chased off.
 
#13 ·
Happy birds lay eggs. The more hours of sun light, right feed all plays in to number and quality of eggs
 
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#16 ·
I also use the Purina layer pellets and allow our birds to run every day. Most of the year the shells and liner membranes are so thick it's hard to get a clean break to keep shell out of the skillet. This changes during the summer and fall to a thinner shell when the birds are hardly eating any feed but instead eating bugs and grass seeds.

We occasionally buy a bag of Dumor crumbles when we have younger birds that may have troubles with the pellets. The shells tend to still be very thick but the membranes are thinner making it easier to get a clean egg break for less shell in the skillet.

Years ago I stored about a years worth of feed as a prep. After about 8 months the birds were eating very little and losing weight. The shells got thin. I'm assuming that chicken feed goes rancid after a while and the birds weren't getting enough calcium.
 
#17 ·
We only keep one month's supply of layer pellets on hand. Six 50# bags.
Good point on the layer crumbles for young hens, Down South we call it "layer mash".

We have a rodent proof hay shed where we also store extra bags of feed.
I built a feed/tack room on the end of the stables, we keep one bag each of the various feeds open at any given time - each one in a galvanized steel garbage can to keep rodents out of it.
 
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#18 ·
Nice. Just ordered one of the EGG COOKERS off amazon, that steam them to a soft or hard boil, for about 19$, someone recommended it on another thread.
It also talks of poking a small hole on the round (bottom) part of the egg, and cooking it hole up in this 7 egg cooker.
Also, my damn chickens prefer to eat rabbit food.
 
#19 ·
Update-
So the eggs that were the "oldest" peeled ok today.
I used the egg cooker from amazon.
Soft boiled three, then used the tray to "fry" two.
All of the eggs came out great.
very happy.
SIDE NOTE-
If you buy the microwave gizmo, that can cook eggs, BE damn sure to pierce the yolks, and scramble them a little. I had a "clean up on Isle 9" catastrophy. Also, I learned to only microwave for about 30 seconds at a time.
 
#22 ·
Anybody have one of the old fashioned poached egg cookers? The ones where you put water underneath the egg holders, that got a pad of butter in the egg holders before you added the eggs.

I liked those better than soft boiled eggs as no dealing with peeling the shells.

View attachment 98479
That's basically like the little cups that can go in my electric one. And I had one real soft boiled last night, before i got called back to work. No where near as runny as that picture. MMMM.
 
#23 ·
Just an FYI for future reference...…..

1. Yes, the older the egg to be boiled, the easier it is to peel. That oughta tell ya something about store bought eggs...they're not as fresh as they say. BUT eggs are good for months before going bad. Even if left at room temperature, they can last quite awhile. The US is about the only place that refridgerates the eggs. In Europe & elsewhere, eggs are kept out.

2. Chickens do better & are generally more healthy if allowed outside range....even if it's only an hour or two before roost time daily, or 2 or 3 days a week??

3. Do not actually boil the eggs. Bring the water to a boil, add the eggs & turn down the heat to a soft simmer and add a hefty pinch of baking soda. After about 5 minutes, turn off the heat & let them cool naturally.
 
#30 ·
Hard boiled eggs are always hard to peel if the eggs used were very fresh. In that case, yes, it's best to let them sit in the refrigerator for a few weeks to age. OR (and I just recently discovered this) if you cook them in an Instant Pot, the eggs peel perfectly every time no matter how fresh they are. I understand the Instant Pot is not an option if there's no electricity available, but a pressure canner or other non-electric pressure cooker would work just as well.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Well all this egg palaver could remind a person of some grand prize winning pickled eggs which were started a month or two ago and left to age in one of the man cave ice boxes. Per according to plany they should be just right for Christmas. They are pretty simple to make using the juice off Kroger brand spicy stacker pickles. Great item if you aint tried. When the pickles are gone I just drag out out the tasty hot peppers..chop em up and add them back to the juce along with a table spoon or two Red pepper and Paprika maybe..i forget right now but they should light a person right on up. If you leave off the red pepper it makes them overly sweet. PS if anybody wants to try this at home..additional liquid can be supplied by white vingegar to fill up the jar.
Tableware Liquid Drinkware Food Ingredient
 
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