Physical Characters of Eggs in Relation to Hatchability.

Abstract

The opinion that physical characters of eggs, such as size, shape, shell texture, etc., bear a significant relation to hatchability is wide-spread. For commercial hatching purposes eggs are regularly selected upon size, shape and general shell characters. Small, long, round, or uneven shelled eggs are discarded as of doubtful value for incubation purposes. Experimental evidence fails to substantiate the belief that physical characters of eggs are definitely associated with hatchability. Pearl and Surface (1914) found that the relative variability in egg shape is an individual characteristic, some birds laying eggs that are extremely variable in shape and others producing very uniform eggs. Benjamin (1920) states that size, shape or color of eggs have no effect on their incubation record; that there is no consistent difference in the shape of pullets’ and hen’s eggs. He did discover a positive correlation between size of egg incubated and size of chick hatched. This . . .