Some Factors Affecting Variations in Egg Shell Quality

Abstract

ONE of the major problems in the production of high quality eggs is the production of eggs having good shells. Shell quality has been measured in many ways: thickness, smoothness, porosity, percentage total egg weight represented by egg shell, weight per square centimeter of shell, and the resistance of the shell to various crushing or puncturing forces being some of the more common methods. It is a well known fact that egg shells usually become weaker during the spring and summer. Since this station has also reported the seasonal variation in interior quality, an experiment was designed to investigate the effect of season as well as some other factors on egg shell quality as measured by egg shell thickness. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Stewart (1935) gives an excellent review of literature concerning the structure of the hen’s egg shell. Miller and Bearse (1934) determined the shell percentages of eggs from December . . .