BULLETIN No. 191. 



AN ACCURATE METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE 



WEIGHT OF THE PARTS OF THE 



EGGS OF BIRDS.* 



BY 



Maynik R. Curtis. 



During" the past four years the biological work of the Maine 

 Experiment Station has included a considerable amount of 

 biometrical work on the egg of the domestic fowl. In 1910 an 

 investigation of the size relations and proportion of the parts 

 of successive eggs of the same individual hen was undertaken. 

 This work when completed will include a study of all the eggs 

 laid during the first or pullet year by a flock of over twenty 

 Barred Plymouth Rock hens. In this work it is necessary to 

 get accurate determinations of the weight of the albumen, yolk 

 and shell of each egg. 



In order that the data for this study might be accurate it 

 was essential at the outstart to determine satisfactory methods, 

 first, for preserving eggs for a few hours with practically no 

 change in weight and, second, for accurately separating the 

 parts of the egg. Since the results of the entire investigation 

 cannot be published for some time, and since the methods 

 worked out have proved useful in other investigations now in 

 progress in this laboratory, it seems advisable to publish a dis- 

 cussion of them at this time. 



]\Ie;thod for Preserving Eggs to Insure a Minimum Loss 



IN Weight. 



It is often impossible to take data on eggs as soon as they 

 are laid. In order to have comparable data it is therefore 

 necessary to reduce as much as possible the error due to loss 

 of weight from unequal evaporation. The amount of loss by 



*Papers from the Biological Laboratory of the Maine Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. No. 27. 



