Research Article

Assessment of egg quality and hatch results of different origin hens

Zenon Bernacki, Bartłomiej Kaszyński

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 12(2), 2013, 3‒14

Abstract. Growing interest in fancy hen breeding motivates people undertake more research into assessment of their production traits. The purpose of this research is to assess the quality of eggs and results of hatch of three hen breeds: partridge italian, silver brahma, and salmon faverolle. Eggs were assessed in three periods of laying. Hatching was carried out with the use of eggs from the period of production peak. The qualities of eggs changed according to the period of the production. The biggest differences were found in terms of the color and height of yolk, the weight of albumen and yolk and the eggshell thickness. Among the considered breeds of hens were found statistically significant differences for the egg shape index and the albumen and shell weight. Eggs of italian partridge were characterized by the highest statistically significant weight of albumen and index of shape (35.99 g and 75.58%), whereas the smallest were observed for brahms (33.33 g and 72.21%). Fertilization of italian hen eggs was 97.8% and of feverolle 100%. Also a high percentage share of healthy hatched chickens from fertilized and set eggs was observed. In case of brahma breed there were no fertilized eggs found.

Keywords: brahma, egg quality, faverolle, hatch, hen, italian