I—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. June 12,1971
Cracked, Broken Eggs Viewed As Important Industry Issue
(Continued from Page 1)
eggs, according to Irwin, in
clude cold eggs going into hot
water, eggs hitting each other,
pressure in picking up eggs,
bumped eggs in the line of pro
duction, and thin egg shells.
Sander gave some additional
factois for egg shell detei loca
tion: breeding, poor vaccination,
careless handling on the farm
or elsewhere, faulty gathering
equipment, and keeping hens
too long.
Herb Jordan, Penn State poul
try specialist, said he doesn’t
think that bieakage is much of
a problem if it averages only
two to four per cent of eggs
produced Poultrymen have a
problem if the percentage rises
to four to eight pei cent and the
problem is acute if it is over
eight per cent. Jordan said he
has seen some flocks with 20
per cent cracks
Jordan emphasized that there
are at least two to three dozen
areas or categones of shell
damage. One is a thin shell or
thin side. Cracks can occur in
side the bird and one study
found that 50 of 200 biids had
oracks in their eggs before they
were laid This indicates that
“happiness is a healthy bud,”
Jordan said
He said that diseases, particu
larly respiratory conditions,
hurt not only egg production
and size, but also results in a
high incidence of egg damage
To cut down on disease and
losses that result, he recom
mended better building insula
tion, keeping manuie diy, stop
ping waterers fiom running
over, eliminating roof leaks,
stopping outside water from
coming in, keeping the house
ventilated, and cleaning often
to keep the building dry.
Dr. Dwight Schwaitz, Penn
State poultry veterinarian, said
that a thin, weak, rough egg
shell can result from disease
During disease, production falls
Field Day
Site Asked
The Lancaster County Soil
and Water Conservation Distuct
is still seekmg a site for its an
nual Conservation Field Day,
according to J Everett Kreider.
Kreider said the District is
seeking a 25 to 30 acre field,
preferably from someone who is
practicing conservation He sug
gested that barley stubble
would be fine.
The annual field day includes
tractor plowing and land judg
ing contests and many other ac
tivities
Date of the annual event last
year was July 28, but no date
has been set yet for this year.
Commonwealth National A V
Agri-Loan Corp.
A subsidiary of Commonwealth National Bank
Serving
Agriculture
in
South Central Pennsylvania
off as the bird’s resources are
rednected toward fighting off
the disease, he explained.
Only Newcastle and bronchi
tis produce oviduct damage,
which is permanent with a cer
tain number of hens If these
hens can be identified, they
should be eliminated from the
flock because they will always
lay thin shelled eggs, he said
He urged poultiymen with
flock problems to submit four
to six hens which show the basic
symptoms of the problem to
the state diagnostic lab.
Kermit Birth, Penn State
marketing specialist, said cracks
can occur from abuse of the
egg after it is laid
Sometimes, he said, an egg
may be bumped seveial times
before it cracks But the crack
which occurred with the final
bump may not have resulted if
it had not been for the weaken
ing from the previous bumps.
The breaks can occur any
where from the nest to the
table, he noted. “We can never
be sure where the crack oc
curs, because the egg may have
been bumped more than once
before it cracked.”
He said he gets many com
plaints from consumers that
they can’t get the egg out of
the carton While the damage
usually occuis before the con
sumer buys the egg, the con
sumer sometimes is at fault, he
said
Some areas where problems
occur include anywhere that
eggs bump eggs, pressure on
eggs, lifting eggs up or setting
them down, speed in movement,
change of dmection, conveyors,
anywhere in the packing pro
cess
Both Jordan and'Birth em
phasized that large and medium
eggs have a much smaller
breakage rate than do jumbo
and extra large eggs They in
dicated that this may result be
cause the larger eggs are handl
ed moie under present proce
dures and because existing
equipment and packing is gear
ed primarily for the smaller
eggs
In comments on questions
from the audience, it was noted
that after July 1, 1972, cracked
eggs will have to go to the
breaker, restricting the poten
tial economic return from these
eggs and making sound eggs
much more important to the in
dustry.
Asked how many months a
flock should be kept in produc
tion, Jordan said he doesn’t like
to see over 12 months unless
it’s a “good flock ” Birth said
this is a decision which has to
be based on profit.
On the question of the in
fluence of genetics on the
breakage problem, Dr Sch
wartz said certain strains of
birds have had much more
breakage than others
R W Sauder Inc employes who help- representative; Mrs, Margie Shelly, cand
ed show local poultrymen through the pro- ler, Kenneth G.bble, company inspector,
plant Thursday evening are: left and Leon Weaver, transportation man
to right, Melvin Gehman, producer service ager.
Among those participating in the edu
cational meeting on egg shell quality in
Lititz Thursday evening are: left to right,
Jay W. Irwin, associate Lancaster County
ag agent, Dr. Dwight Schwartz, Penn
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State poultry veterinarian; Herb Jordan,
Penn State poultry specialist, and Kermifc
Birth, Penn State poultry marketing
specialist.
*
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