How should you deal with floor eggs?
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Use a Rodac plate to identify which bacteria are present ON the surface of the egg. But this will not give any information about the bacteria already IN the egg.
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By definition, floor eggs are not good quality hatching eggs! Washing these eggs is inadvisable. By this stage the bacteria are often already in the egg. It makes no sense to wash the eggs. Whether or not floor eggs are washed varies from country to country. In some countries, all the floor eggs are disposed of as the quality is poor – particularly with older eggs. A batch with 2% of washed floor eggs may result in all the broilers requiring treatment with antibiotics later at the broiler farm. The best strategy is to dispose of dirty eggs to prevent poor quality day-old chicks entering the production chain. Some hatcheries prefer dirty eggs to be supplied unwashed. This avoids any mistakes, and the hatchery can decide whether to wash the eggs or not, and whether they are worth setting. Be aware that farmers may hide floor eggs between good quality eggs if the floor eggs are not paid for!
Floor eggs produce poorer quality day-old chicks. Preferably incubate these eggs separately. Each hatchery should also have a separate holding area for lower quality chicks. Segregating these chicks prevents diseases entering the production chain and benefits the performance of the entire chain. Broiler producers are often prepared to pay more for good quality chicks.
4. E gg h a n d l i n g a n d q u al i ty
You can remove mild soiling with your hands. Carefully remove traces of faecal material with a paper towel. Take care to avoid contaminating the clean parts of the egg with the towel. However, this has absolutely no effect on the hatching results.
Do not scrape or scour dirty eggs. Some of the dust this creates will accumulate in the pores and block them. This reduces the gas exchange. Scouring also damages the protective cuticle, and more bacteria can penetrate the egg which increases the risk of infection. Throw that egg away!
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