How is egg size determined

The start of egg production can be delayed by providing 10 hours or less of light each day to 19 weeks of age. Decreasing the daily hours of light at any time after 10 weeks of age will also delay the start of egg production. Skeletal size has some impact on egg size. Hens with bigger and longer bones tend to become bigger hens and lay bigger eggs. The protein level in the ration fed before 10 weeks of age is the main factor influencing skeletal size of any particular breed of hen.

If you want pullets with bigger skeletons, feed a starter diet until 8 or 10 weeks of age instead of just 6 weeks of age. Any factor that limits feed consumption, for example crowding, heat stress or inadequate water supply, will reduce egg size. Get Started. It applies to producers with 50, or more laying hens, mandating they purchase chicks from flocks controlled for salmonella; control pests, rodents and other hazards; and meet testing, cleaning and refrigeration standards.

These large egg producers must also register with the U. Food and Drug Administration and maintain records of their safety practices. There are a few egg-handling guidelines that the USDA recommends that you follow to prevent egg-safety problems. Any area or item e. Raw eggs used in cooking or baking should be cooked immediately to a minimum temperature of degrees Fahrenheit, or refrigerated for up to 24 hours and then cooked.

Dishes containing cooked eggs should be eaten within three to four days, and cook your eggs until both the white and the yolk are hard. She is an avid cook who lives on a hobby farm, direct-markets organic produce to local restaurants and has taught at the preschool, elementary and college levels. Didier holds a Master of Arts in education from the University of Oregon. By: Suzanna Didier. Sometimes certain egg sizes are in higher supply than others.

The USDA states that "it is permissible to pack the next larger size of eggs into cartons for example, large eggs packed in medium cartons , provided they are not intermingled in the same carton with the lower marked weight class.

The physical size of an egg depends on a number of factors, some of which are related to the hen herself, and others having to do with her environment and surroundings. Some of the most impactful factors include age, breed, season, and lighting. A hen's age is perhaps the most important factor that determines the size of her egg. However, the correlation between age and egg size isn't exactly a straight line: pullets and young hens have been known to lay eggs on both extremes of the size spectrum, from peewees to jumbos.

Hens in their prime laying days tend to lay more consistently, usually producing medium and large eggs on most days. A hen's breed determines the size of her frame, which helps determine the size of her eggs. Breeds like Jersey Giants, Cochins, and Orpingtons, for example, are larger birds and therefore lay larger eggs. On the other hand, Bantam hens are smaller than an average chicken and tend to lay eggs to match.

Just like humans, hens have internal clocks, so the time of year plays a big role not only in their laying frequency, but sometimes in the size of their eggs.

In the winter , hens naturally stop laying unless provided with artificial lighting—and even those that continue to lay will often lay smaller eggs. Sizing up our eggs is no simple task at Pete and Gerry's.

In fact, we have it down to a science to ensure that every carton of eggs from our small family farms meets consumers' expectations, every time. Here's how we do it:. At the beginning of each day, our mechanics calibrate our scales to ensure that they are maintaining the integrity of our egg weight specifications. This is recommended by the manufacturers of our equipment and is documented within our facility. Our mechanics keep strict records on the proper calibration of our machines and record calibration checks on a daily basis.

From there, our machine operators assign packers to certain eggs based on egg weight. The product that matches those specifications is then run through the respective pack line.

For example, if a packing line is assigned to large sized eggs, the computerized system will only send large-weight eggs to be packaged into our large-labeled cartons. The computerized system prohibits eggs weighing less than the USDA standard for large to become packaged in a large line. Our computers also track the total weight of all large eggs processed during the day so that we can verify that the average weight of a specific type of egg was within the determined weight parameters.

Beyond our calibrated scales, we have personnel on the packing line who routinely document manual weights of our finished product to check that we are sending out finished product that meets these strict weight requirements. We also have USDA personnel on site who ensure we are following these expectations and strict guidelines very closely. This is just one leg in the journey of an egg , but it's an important one.