Egg Weight in New Hampshires Hatched Each Month of the Year

IN ORDER to provide a year around uniform supply of hatching eggs for the broiler industry, many of the hatching egg producers are starting several lots of pullets each year. However, many producers who have tried out-of-season hatched pullets disliked them because they observed that not only was the average egg weight lower, but the period of laying small eggs was greatly prolonged. To determine the influence of date of hatch upon factors concerned with hatching egg production, the Poultry Department of the University of Delaware conducted studies with New Hampshires hatched each month of the years 1946 and 1948. Records of egg production, egg weight, mortality and hatchability were obtained, but this report deals only with the study of egg weight. A limited amount of research work has been published on this problem. Jeffrey and Platt (1941) found that in White Leghorns the date of hatch has a pronounced . . .