Dirty eggs

Dirty eggs

When a hatching egg is laid it is warm. The cuticle is still soft and can be permeated by bacteria. The egg then cools slowly, but the cuticle hardens within a minute. The most critical period for a hatching egg is therefore the first minute after laying. An egg laid on the floor or in a dirty laying nest can never be made ‘clean’. The dirt on an egg is full of bacteria and moulds. These bacteria can permeate the eggshell. The presence of bacteria inside an egg will cause spoilage more quickly, cause the death of the embryo and if pressure is produced by gas inside the egg, it may even explode - a ‘banger’. Floor eggs are unsuitable as hatching eggs! Up to as much as 1,000 times more bacteria can be found on the surface of floor eggs than on eggs laid in nests. Preferably, avoid setting floor eggs, and never place dirty eggs among clean ones. If a hatchery decides to incubate floor eggs, take additional measures to prevent cross contamination and separate the lower quality day-old chicks. The quality of a hatching egg laid in a dirty nest is Dirty eggs are usually placed on the lowest setter automatically lower than an egg laid in a clean nest. trays so if they explode in the incubator, the clean Replace or regularly clean the nest pads. As soon as you notice the first signs of ‘bangers’ in eggs from a parent ones underneath are not contaminated. It makes flock, inform the breeder farm. Higher chick mortality can no sense to incubate floor eggs separately and also be directly linked to poor hygiene status and quality then mix the day-old chicks. These inferior chicks of the laying nests. will never perform well and they will infect the rest of the flock! Each hatchery/integration has its own protocol for supplying floor eggs separately. A hatchery that disposes of these poor-quality chicks or raises them in a special unit avoids passing the problem on to the other links in the production chain. This has benefits for the performance and profitability of the entire chain!

Egg bacterial load Extent of dirt Bacterial load (# bacteria per mm Fresh egg 300 Clean egg 3,000 Floor egg 25,000 Dirty egg 400,000copyright protected 2)

The bacterial load increases rapidly with the degree of soiling of the eggshell.

The limits regarding the degree of soiling

What is the limit of the degree of soiling? Which eggs can you set or not?

Yes Uncertain No

LOOK-THINK-ACT

About 2% of eggs supplied to the hatchery are used in the liquid egg market (e.g. shampoo). These are usually floor eggs. In integrated production systems, it is worthwhile refusing floor eggs. This boosts the profitability of the remaining eggs and day-old chicks. Medication administered to these chicks is often reduced by at least 50%.

Floor eggs are high-risk. About 1-2% of production are floor eggs. This figure can be as high as 10%. Anything above 2% is unacceptable. The percentage of floor eggs depends on good flock management, the parent stock age, and the flock itself.

In practice, floor eggs are supplied separately by the breeder farm. A label on the setter trays indicates the floor eggs. The chicks that hatch from these eggs are often included in the usual process, but this practice should be avoided.

Why are there empty spaces in this trolley? The risk eggs are labelled and placed in the lower trays of the incubator. In this case they have been washed. There is a good reason to identify these eggs as a risk. They could potentially explode. Placing these eggs in the lower part of the trolley reduces the risk of contaminating the others. But there is still a serious risk of cross-contamination. So avoid this practice! Always hatch risk eggs separately from good quality ones and segregate the hatched chicks as much as possible. But best of all - don’t hatch these eggs in the first place!copyright protected

Offspring mortality day 1-14 (%) 5

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Effect of dirty eggs on early offspring mortality

floor eggs

dirty nest eggs

clean nest eggs

Dirty eggs have a proven effect on the performance of offspring. This effect is seen in hatchability, but also in first week mortality and the general quality of the broilers.