- Have you ever seen that eggs are getting extra shell bits into the bowl or pan whenever you crack them?
- There’s really a cause — and it has to do with the identical avian flu outbreak that made eggs so costly final yr.
- Older hens lay eggs with thinner shells, resulting in extra shell bits whenever you crack them.
Currently, I’ve seen one thing unusual within the kitchen.
Over the previous couple of months, an increasing number of usually once I went to crack an egg, I might get a chunk of shell into the bowl or pan, forcing me to attempt to fish it out with my finger (one of many worst duties in cooking —perhaps even worse than doing dishes).
Even worse: A number of occasions recently, I’ve had that dreaded chunk the place you chomp down on a chunk of shell in your egg and cheese sandwich [shudder].
I have been cracking eggs the identical method for many years with largely the identical impact —till not too long ago. Sometimes, I might get some chips, however that is an exception, not the rule.
Now, it appears nearly each egg I crack finally ends up with bits of shell within the bowl.
My approach hasn’t modified. The kind of eggs I purchase hasn’t modified. It is gotta be the eggs, proper?
I requested round on social media. I felt prefer it was my pet conspiracy principle — that Huge Egg was hiding a secret. However many others additionally thought they’d seen the very same phenomenon. One thing has modified recently with eggshells.
I needed to dig deeper.
Sheila Purdum is a professor of poultry vitamin on the College of Nebraska-Lincoln with a analysis deal with “dietary components affecting calcium utilization and shell high quality in laying hens.”
I requested Purdum about my principle about getting extra egg chips within the bowl recently. “There’s NO conspiracy principle, simply biology affecting your eggs proper now,” she mentioned.
Thinner shells usually tend to chip, and the vitamin of the chickens laying the eggs can impact how thick or skinny the shell is. However Purdum suspects it is one thing aside from a change in hen feed.
“I think the problem is as a result of age of the Nationwide Flock,” Purdum mentioned over e mail. “Attributable to a big lack of flocks when affected by Avian Influenza, the remaining birds are saved in manufacturing longer, which then begins a cycle of poorer eggshell high quality. “
Final yr, egg costs went by way of the roof, with costs greater than doubling in sure US states. Though inflation has affected grocery costs, the massive cause for the egg worth enhance was a huge avian flu outbreak beginning in 2022 that killed greater than 58 million chickens and different birds.
As a result of so many chickens died from the flu, egg producers needed to adapt. Usually, a industrial hen begins laying eggs round 5 months outdated and lays an egg per day till she’s round 2 years outdated, at which level she’s, uh, “retired” (let’s simply say there are not any 401Ks in manufacturing unit farms).
However when half a producer’s chickens die off early, they’re going to need to maintain a few of these older hens round longer. This implies hens over 3 years outdated are within the combine.
Older chickens lay weaker eggs. “The producers enhance calcium within the food regimen to assist maintain the eggshells sturdy,” Purdum mentioned. “However as in any animal, ageing has detrimental results inflicting osteoporosis and poor power of each bones within the laying hen and subsequent eggshell power.”
Kevin Harvatine, professor of dietary physiology within the Division of Animal Science at Penn State College, informed me he remembers the same factor taking place — an older hen inhabitants — in 2015 after an avian flu outbreak decreased egg provide.
For now, I’ve switched up my approach to the really useful method of hitting an egg in opposition to a flat floor as an alternative of the sting of the bowl or a fork. For hard-boiled eggs, including a splash of white vinegar to the water whereas boiling may help ease peeling.
The excellent news is that egg costs have normalized, fortunately (though they’re nonetheless costlier than 2019).
Which means the worst of the flu outbreak is over, and manufacturing is again up. And that doubtless signifies that the common ages of hens will return to regular, and shells will blissfully crack as soon as extra.
