Changes in Albumen Quality with Time

NUMEROUS reports indicate that albumen quality declines more or less steadily throughout the first laying year (Sauter et al., 1954; Strain and Johnson, 1957; Froning and Funk, 1958; May and Stadelman, 1960; Mueller et al., 1960). The consensus of opinion is that this change is not related to seasonal changes in temperature. Convincing evidence has been advanced that the decline is primarily a consequence of increasing age of the bird (Cunningham et al., 1960). There is, however, an additional explanation for the decline in albumen quality. This is that an exhaustion phenomenon is involved, and that within a given laying year or season the bird lays eggs which are successively poorer in quality because of her inability to cope with the high demands of continuous production of eggs. The change in albumen quality expected on the basis of this explanation would be precisely that expected on the basis if an …