Seasonal Variations in Quality of Eggs as Measured by Physical and Functional Properties

PARKER, Gossman and Lippincott (1926) and Parker (1927) appear to be the first investigators to study the seasonal changes in egg quality. They found no definite trend in yolk color. These observations were later substantiated by Hunter, Van Wagenen and Hall (1936) and Wilhelm and Heiman (1938). Hunter, Van Wagenen and Hall (1936) observed the interior quality of fresh eggs produced by a flock of Single Comb White Leghorns hens under constant management conditions. They found that the eggs of highest quality were produced between November and March and that there was a seasonal trend in interior quality showing a decline beginning with March or April and continuing through the summer. Wilhelm and Heiman (1938), using albumen index and yolk index as criteria of quality, found a consistent drop in egg quality from the time the hens came into production until a low point was reached in July, there then …