The importance of egg shells is often over-looked by most consumers. How often have you even thought about a chicken egg shell? Typically, when I am cooking and need to crack an egg is generally the only time.
One reason for thin egg shells is due to feed not having much calcium in it. Your chickens might not have enough calcium in their diet to support building a strong egg shell.
Strong eggshells keep bacteria out
Shell strength is determined by two primary factors: thickness and pore size.
A strong eggshell is about 0.3 millimeters thick and has tiny pores. These pores work to allow oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture to pass through, but to keep bacteria out.
Eggshells with larger pores or thinner shells have less protective power. A strong shell can help deflect bad bacteria, while bacteria can fit through the larger pores of a weak shell.
The shell is then covered by a thin coating, for added protection. Just inside the shell, the inner and outer membranes provide yet another layer of defense.
These protective shields work together to keep the contents of an egg safe and healthy. However, none of these barriers are effective unless you start with a strong eggshell; it’s the egg’s first line of defense. Source: https://www.purinamills.com/chicken-feed/education/detail/safe-eggs-start-with-strong-shells
How to get strong eggshells
Occasionally, when we collect our eggs from the chicken coop, some eggs feel very delicate and tend to break upon collecting.
Watch our video to learn the steps we take to prepare egg shells for hens.
Maintaining the Importance of Egg Shells
A Simple Trick to improving our hens diet and to laying hard shelled eggs is accomplished by providing calcium as a supplement to their diet.
Here are the simple steps we take:
- Every time we cook with eggs, we clean the shell and place into a container. Collecting shells until the container is full. This typically takes about a week to fill.
- Next, we place onto a cookie sheet.
- Place cookie sheet into the oven, set at 350 degrees.
- Cook for 8 – 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool.
- Place cooked shells into a large Ziploc bag and seal.
- Take a rolling pin and crush shells into small crumbs. Changing the look of the shell. Result, don’t encourage the hens to peck at freshly laid eggs.
- Pour into a low container. Lastly, placed into the chicken coop.
The hens will peck at the crushed egg shells only as they need to. Therefore, hens peck at calcium supplement as needed.
Family Tip passed down for Three Generations!
Eating eggs is a healthy choice! More importantly, eat healthy eggs with strong outer shells. As flock raisers, we take the responsibility in understanding the importance of egg shells and ensure our flock is fed adequate calcium in their daily diet.
Watch our video on how we provide calcium supplements to our laying hens!
