The effect of long-term genetic selection on physical quality and composition of eggs was determined by analyzing eggs acquired from Agriculture Canada: Ottawa Control Strain 5 (CS5) from a 1950 base population, 7 (CS7) from a 1958 population and 10 (CS10) from a 1972 population. Eggs from the H&N “Nick Chick” current commercial strain (CCS) were also included. Eggs were collected monthly over ...

Mycoplasma infections are pandemic in multiage layer chicken flocks, with Mycoplasma gallisepticum being the species of greatest concern to commercial egg producers. Live M. gallisepticum vaccines are presently being used to help control M. gallisepticum outbreaks. However, vaccination of layers with F-strain M. gallisepticum may adversely affect egg production. In the present study, 2 trials w...

The effects of broiler breeder age (26, 28, and 30 wk) and incubator relative humidity (43, 53, and 63% RH) on yolk sac weight and composition in broiler hatching eggs between 16 and 19 d of incubation were evaluated. Percentage yolk sac weight was reduced in eggs from the youngest (26 wk) breeder hens and in eggs incubated at 53% RH. Percentage yolk moisture, in eggs from the youngest hens, wa...

Twenty 35-wk-old chickens, including 10 Single Comb White Leghorn (SCWL) and 10 Rhode Island Red (RIR) hens, were used to examine the effects of egg and yolk weights on egg yolk antibody (IgY) production in the two strains of chickens immunized with BSA. The SCWL chickens had a greater (P < 0.01) percentage hen-day production and greater egg and yolk weights than did the RIR chickens. However, ...

Athens Canadian Random Bred (ACRB) chickens, a 1955 meat-type control strain, were incubated with the 2013 Cobb 500 broiler to determine differences in egg composition, conductance values, incubation duration, hatch performance, and yolk utilization. Unincubated ACRB eggs had greater percentage solids than Cobb 500 eggs. The ACRB eggs had a greater solid portion as yolk, whereas the Cobb 500 de...

The correlation of yolk cholesterol and yolk fat concentrations of egg from the pedigreed Athens-Canadian Randombred control population with the percentage of abdominal fat (AF) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of their progeny were studied. The average yolk cholesterol, yolk fat, and AF were 20.3 mg/g yolk, 244 mg/g yolk, and 1.64%, respectively. The phenotypic correlation of both yolk choleste...

We used a split-plot design of five diets: control (corn-soy) with 3.8% Ca, 10% flaxseed with 3.8% Ca, 10% flaxseed with 4.5% Ca, 10% flaxseed with 3.8% Ca and 22,000 IU vitamin D3/kg, and 10% flaxseed with 4.5% Ca and 22,000 IU vitamin D3/kg, and two strains of birds, DeKalb Delta (DD) and Hy-Line W-36 (HL), to evaluate long-term effects of flaxseed supplementation on egg production parameters...

the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of maternal breeding values of the weight of day-old chick chicks in a commercial broiler line with egg traits including yolk fatty acids. maternal breeding values of 63 hens of known pedigree were estimated through an animal model, containing direct additive genetic effect, maternal additive genetic effect, maternal common environme...