The Relationship of Clutch Position and Time Interval Between Eggs to Eggshell Quality

SEVERAL investigators have studied the relationship of the cycle or clutch length to egg production. Atwood (1929a, 1929b) observed that the longer the cycle the shorter was the interval between the laying of successive eggs. He has also shown that the interval between the laying of the last two eggs of a cycle is usually greater than any other interval in the cycle, and that the intervals at or about the middle of the cycle are shorter than the intervals at either extremity. The observations of Atwood were confirmed by Heywang (1938). Warren and Scott (1935a, 1935b) have shown that the reason for differences in interval length between different birds can largely be accounted for by variations in the time the eggs remain in the uterine portion of the oviduct. They observed that eggs laid within 25 hours of the previously laid egg remained in the uterus 18.0 hours whereas . . .