- ✓Understand what makes a strong shell: layer feed, cool water, heat, age of the hen
- ✓Anticipate how egg size changes over the cycle and grade eggs by size
- ✓Organise collection, sorting, storage and packing into trays
A strong shell is prepared in the feed and in the water
Every egg carries a shell, and every shell needs calcium. That is why we switch to layer feed, rich in calcium, from the first eggs (lesson 4). A hen that lays without getting what she needs draws on her own reserves: her shells become thin and fragile.
Heat also plays a part. A hen that is too hot pants, eats less and lays less (lesson 6). In strong heat, cool water, below 20 °C if possible, helps the hen hold her laying rate and the strength of the shell.
Source: Novogen (Novogen Brown management guide, 2024).
- Feed: a good-quality layer feed, well stored, with no sudden change of formula or supplier.
- Water: cool, always available, reserve and pipes in the shade.
- Heat: a well-ventilated house, part of the feed distributed in the cool hours.
- Age: at the end of the cycle, eggs are bigger and shells more fragile; sorting must be even more careful.
Count the soft-shelled and cracked eggs every day. If the number goes up, check the feed first (is it really layer feed? has a new batch just been delivered?), then the water and the heat. If nothing explains it, call your area’s veterinarian: a disease can also damage shells.
Egg size changes with the age of the hen
The first eggs are small, then they grow quickly up to the peak, and keep growing slowly until depopulation. This table gives the average egg weight targeted by the reference strain.
| Age of the hen | Average egg weight |
|---|---|
| 20 weeks | 48 g |
| 22 weeks | 53 g |
| 25 weeks | 57.6 g |
| 30 weeks | 60.5 g |
| 40 weeks | 62.9 g |
| 50 weeks | 63.9 g |
| 60 weeks | 64.5 g |
| 72 weeks | 65 g |
| 80 weeks | 65.4 g |
Source: Novogen (Novogen Brown management guide, 2024).
- A pullet brought into lay too early, too light, lays small eggs for a long time: egg size is prepared during rearing (lessons 2 and 3).
- The same flock gives small eggs at the start and large eggs at the end: tell your buyers what is coming.
- Grade by size: small, medium, large. Size categories are agreed with your buyers; a scale in the sorting room avoids disputes.
Collection and sorting
Eggs are collected at least 2 to 3 times a day, more often when it is hot. An egg that stays a long time in the nest box gets dirty, breaks under the hens coming to lay, and can be pecked. Nest boxes stay clean and lined: the lining is changed as soon as it is dirty. Floor eggs are collected separately.
Source: Novogen (Novogen Brown management guide, 2024).
At each collection, eggs are sorted and broken, cracked or dirty eggs are set aside:
| Category | How to recognise it | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Good egg | Clean, whole and strong shell | Into a tray, stored somewhere cool and shaded |
| Dirty egg | Traces of droppings, soil or blood | Set it aside from the good eggs |
| Cracked egg | Fine crack, often visible against the light | Set it aside: a crack lets germs in |
| Broken egg | Open shell, contents running | Remove it at once and clean up: it soils the others and teaches hens to eat eggs (lesson 10) |
| Soft shell | Thin or flexible shell | Set it aside and count it: it is a warning sign |
Record the number of eggs in each category every day. This figure says a lot about the health of the flock and the quality of the work in the house.
Storage and packing into trays
Eggs are kept somewhere cool and shaded, never in the sun. An egg that heats up quickly loses its freshness.
Source: Novogen (Novogen Brown management guide, 2024).
- Clean moulded trays, eggs placed pointed end down.
- A clean, airy, cool and shaded storage room, away from strong-smelling products (fuel, disinfectants, fertiliser).
- Laying date written on each stack of trays.
- Clean hands to handle eggs; dirty or wet trays never reused as they are.
- Transport in the shade, trays well wedged, never in full sun on the motorbike or the pick-up.
The oldest trays leave first. A well-organised stock, with the laying date visible, avoids selling an egg that is too old and losing a customer.
For the entrepreneur
- ›Quality is paid for on the farm: good-quality layer feed, cool water, clean nest boxes. A dirty or cracked egg is an egg lost or sold for less.
- ›Agree size categories with your buyers and have the eggs graded accordingly.
- ›Provide a cool, shaded and clean storage room, and enough clean trays.
For the technician
- ›Collect at least 2 to 3 times a day, more when it is hot; collect floor eggs separately.
- ›Sort at each collection (good, dirty, cracked, broken, soft shells) and record each category.
- ›Store pointed end down, cool and shaded, date written; the oldest leave first.
The 3 questions to ask your technician this week
- How many dirty, cracked, broken and soft-shelled eggs did we set aside this week, and is it going up?
- How many times a day did we collect, and at what times?
- Where are the eggs stored, and how old is the oldest tray in stock?
Key points
- •Strong shell: layer feed rich in calcium from the first eggs, cool water (below 20 °C if possible) in strong heat.
- •The egg grows with age: 48 g at 20 weeks, 60.5 g at 30 weeks, 65.4 g at 80 weeks.
- •Collect at least 2 to 3 times a day, more when it is hot; nest boxes clean and lined.
- •Set aside broken, cracked or dirty eggs; count soft shells, they are a warning sign.
- •Storage cool and shaded, never in the sun, pointed end down; first in, first out.