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Despite all the handling to which our breeding hens are exposed, a percentage of the eggs will be laid on the floor of the houses.

The collection of these floor eggs is costly for the poultry farmer (Photo 1). Because they are usually dirtier, they contain more bacteria in their shells (Berrang et al., 1997) and more cracks, compared to eggs laid in nests (De Reu, 2006).

A large percentage of these cracks are the gateway for bacteria to enter the egg, resulting in lower hatchability, lower quality chicks and increased mortality in the first days on the farm (Khabisi et al., 2012).

It is commonly believed that eggs laid on the floor, if they look clean, present no problem to the hatchery.

However, Tuellett 1990; Van den Brand et al., (2016) and Meijerhof et al., (2022) reported in their studies that floor eggs even if they look clean or have been washed have a higher degree of contamination and generate a lower hatch than nest eggs.

  • This percentage of minor birth is between 10% to 20%, depending on the type of bed and its condition, and can be a not insignificant figure.

Photo 1. Collection of floor eggs is costly for the poultry farmer.

It should be noted that some studies report mortality at all ages of embryonic development as can be seen in Table 1 adapted from Van den Brand et al (2016).

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Table 1. Mortality at all ages of embryonic development.

In addition to embryonic mortality, it is well known that in hatcheries where there are floor eggs, the number of eggs that explode increases, which generates a high bacterial load inside the machines with all the deleterious effect that this can have (Photo 2 and 3).

Chicks hatched from floor eggs, washed or not, are of lower weight when they leave the hatchers, largely due to the fact that the cracks in the shell that usually occur in this type of eggs generate a greater loss of moisture during incubation or to changes in conductance (Burton and Tullett, 1983) that cause the birds to hatch earlier than programmed and have to wait inside the hatchers suffering from dehydration.

Chicks from floor eggs have been reported to be of lower quality as assessed by percent yolk-free body mass and bird length.

floor eggsfloor eggsPhoto 2 and 3. The number of exploding eggs generates a high bacterial load inside the machines.

Some studies show that litter in poultry houses where birds from floor eggs are housed has higher humidity and therefore birds may have more plantar dermatitis or tarsal lesions (Van den Brand et al., 2016). It is believed that this may be due to compromised in intestinal development.

floor eggs

WHAT TO DO WITH THE FLOOR EGG?

As can be seen in Table 1 (Van den Brand et al., 2016), washing floor eggs is not the answer to the problem. The solution is to prevent birds from getting used to laying eggs on the floor.

It is considered “normal” in heavy birds up to 2% floor eggs, higher percentages invite to review bird managements such as:

A hand nest should be available for 3-4 birds, in mechanical nests 40 females per linear meter (Photo 4).

Photo 4. Check availability and entry to the nest.

Add drinkers at the level of the slats so that the birds get used to climbing them (Photo 5).

floor eggsPhoto 5: Install drinkers at slat level.

Introduce perches or platforms from day 28 of age (Photo 6).

Photo 6. Installing perches and platforms. Image Aviagen.

In posture close the nests one hour before the light is turned off and open them 2 hours before the light is turned on, Photo 7.

Photo 7. In posture close the nests one hour before the light goes out.

Locate the nests in areas where they do not receive direct light.

WHY IS NEST CLEANING IMPORTANT?

The body temperature of the hen at the time of laying is 40-41°C. At this temperature, the egg comes into contact with the nest “litter”, which will have temperatures between 30°C to 20°C depending on whether it stays inside the nest or rolls onto the conveyor belt.

When the egg is in a dirty environment, bacteria will be absorbed through the pores and contaminate the egg.

floor eggsPhoto 8. Keep the litter clean, whether in manual or automatic nests.

In the automatics the “pads” or cushions composed of plastic extensions must also be cleaned and sanitized. Over time, the height of the pad extensions can become uneven, making it difficult for the egg to roll Photo 9.

WHAT TO DO WITH A CRACKED EGG?

The percentage of cracked egg should be less than 0.5%. The most practical is to prevent cracking through:

Photo 9. Nest pads should be checked for perfect egg rolling. AstroTurf® image.

floor eggsPhoto 10. Fissure due to the hen’s claw.

It is important to determine at what point the egg crack occurs so that it can be corrected. Photo 10 shows a typical egg exposed to the hen’s claws inside the nest. This is a frequent situation when there is competition among birds for space inside the nest (low number of nests per bird or nests in poor condition that the birds do not use).

The crack known as hairline (Photo 11) usually occurs when the egg hits an inflexible or rigid surface, while the star type (Photo 12) is when they hit each other (Gupta, 2008).

floor eggsPhoto 11. Hairline crack.

floor eggsPhoto 12. Star type crack.

Interestingly, it has been reported that linear hair-like cracks compromise embryo viability more than star-shaped cracks (Moosanezhad Khabisi et al. 2011).

floor eggs

Meanwhile, Meijerhof et al 2022 reported that if a cracked egg is surgically taped, regardless of whether the crack was on the farm or in the plant, the hatch percentage will be close to normal.

CONCLUSION

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