Can someone explain peeling eggs?

I cooked these duck eggs today. They were so fresh that the duck didn't even know they'd gone.

Usual method - bring to the boil from cold, boil for 1 minute, stand for 15 minutes then into ice water.

The peeling was a bit messy (and the shells were very hard) but I got there with minimal mess.


I was very surprised (and pleased) that the yolks stayed almost in the centre


 
To carry on (and bore everyone to tears), The yolks came away from the whites easily by just using the thumb. In the past I've needed to scrape them out with a teaspoon.


 
Run under very cold wáter, and roll until the shells are cracked ..

Much easier & quicker to peel and a rare loss of the White interior ..

I can guarantee you that won't work with my hens' eggs (or my bantam's). Some hens' eggs simply don't peel well, and most in my fridge are less than a week old. I have found from experimentation and having a large flock of hens of my own, that some hens' eggs will not peel no matter what you do to them or how long you leave them - an old egg peels better than a younger, fresher one. Rolling until cracked with some of my hens' (some are rescue hens from free range egg farms which are not great conditions for hens (but better than battery/caged hens), sorry rolling will only result in a lot of white lost to the egg shell. From one or two of my hens' I won't actually boil their eggs at all now because no matter what I do (I have even tried pressure cooking them and steaming them (separately)) to them, they will not peel at all.

What you buy in the shops and at markets are not the reality of hens' eggs.
 
I can guarantee you that won't work with my hens' eggs (or my bantam's). Some hens' eggs simply don't peel well, and most in my fridge are less than a week old. I have found from experimentation and having a large flock of hens of my own, that some hens' eggs will not peel no matter what you do to them or how long you leave them - an old egg peels better than a younger, fresher one. Rolling until cracked with some of my hens' (some are rescue hens from free range egg farms which are not great conditions for hens (but better than battery/caged hens), sorry rolling will only result in a lot of white lost to the egg shell. From one or two of my hens' I won't actually boil their eggs at all now because no matter what I do (I have even tried pressure cooking them and steaming them (separately)) to them, they will not peel at all.

What you buy in the shops and at markets are not the reality of hens' eggs.
Do you have to label the eggs or are they all different?
 
Do you have to label the eggs or are they all different?
They are all sufficiently different (even from 20 odd birds) that I can tell them apart. I only write the date them on that they were lain. There are minor changes between some birds that my husband hasn't yet learnt but overall most, even within the same breed,there are sufficient differences (size, speckles, colour, tint, shape etc) that if you know your birds you can tell them apart.
 
I read a no-fail method on cooking and peeling eggs, which worked for me until my last two batches. Go figure. Still, I had been using this method for well over a year and had been getting perfectly cooked and easily peeled eggs. If you try this (immerse right-from-the-fridge eggs into boiling water), check your eggs thoroughly for weak spots and cracks. Otherwise you get a lovely display of swirling egg white in the water. Still, they might crack anyway. I immerse the eggs using a spider; if one cracks I immediately remove it from the water and return to the fridge, then it's scrambled eggs soon after. As a rule, though, they seldom break when I immerse them. (Watch, I just jinxed myself...)

Perfect Boiled Eggs Recipe
 
If I boiled duck eggs for 6 minutes the yolks would be almost hard. I'd never get my soldiers in!

[I have noticed that if I soft boil two eggs and only "cut" the top off one, the other continues to cook unless it is dunked in ice water - time to buy another egg cup methinks (I dropped and broke one a year or two ago)]
 
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If I boiled duck eggs for 6 minutes the yolks would be almost hard
Are you meaning timed from immersion in simmering water - or do you put them in cold water?

I read a no-fail method on cooking and peeling eggs,
Believe me, nothing works for easy peeling of The Black Farmer eggs. These are fantastic eggs with deep orange yolks. On the supermarket website (I get them on-line shopping from Ocado) there are several reviews of the eggs from customers - all saying the same thing. I've come to the conclusion that something is being added to the chicken feed to make the yolks so intensly orange and that this somehow affects the membrane.

Regarding cooking times for a softly boiled egg, I can never understand why instructions don't mention the size of the egg. Surely a large egg is going to take longer to cook than a small egg? Strangely though - @Yorky's duck eggs are larger than hen's eggs (I think) but he is saying 6 minutes will make them hard-boiled.
 
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