Improving eggshell quality in your layers

Mrs Kasendi Mutinda collects eggs at her chicken farm in Ngengeka village, Kitui county. The farmer rears over 500 layers which gives her 12 crates of eggs per day. She says demand for eggs is steady and unmet. She has also reared over 100 broilers with a kilo of meat going for Sh500.[FILE,Standard]

In both commercial and breeder poultry farming, almost half of the discarded eggs are due to shell quality problems.

Pale brown or white eggs (Kenya is a brown egg market) appear as an early sign of reduced shell quality in laying hens, often indicating incomplete cuticle deposition or inadequate calcium accumulation, typically linked to nutritional deficiencies, disease, or premature oviposition. Shell thickness and strength should be monitored throughout the flock's life. Shell quality can be assessed using destructive tests such as breaking strength, shell weight, and shell thickness.