Some Factors Affecting Egg Size in the Domestic Fowl

Abstract

ALTHOUGH egg size is an inherited and fixed characteristic of the individual bird, there remains a certain amount of variation in size of eggs produced by any one female. Some of these variations are due to environmental and others to physiological factors. Investigators have shown that there are seasonal fluctuations in egg size; that eggs of pullets increase in size during the early period of production; and that intensity of production, sexual maturity, feed, and body weight may have some effect on egg size. Jull (1924) has shown that increase in size of yolk is directly proportional to the increase in the size of the body. Asmundson (1931) reported that the amount of albumen secreted by the oviduct was to some extent dependent on the size of the bird and also the size of the oviduct. Atwood (1923) has shown that the position of the egg within the clutch affects . . .