PRESERVATION OF EGGS BY COLD STORAGE. 
RELATION OF QUALITY TO PRESERVATION. 
The initial quality of the eggs influences to a large extent their 
preservation by cold storage. Stale, weak, and hatch-spot eggs, 
which are only too plentiful in eggs marketed in the summer, lose 
heavily after a few months holding in cold storage. In the experi- 
ment cited in Table 5 and figure 2, the stale and heated eggs stored in 
July developed comparatively few bad eggs up to September, but 
from then until the end of March the loss was from 13.5 to 24 eggs 
per case by candling, with 9.5 to 19 additional by breaking. The 
number of bad eggs developing may be higher or lower than that 
found in this experiment, depending upon the degree of deterioration 
before the eggs entered storage. The most frequent types of bad 
eggs present in heated stock after storing are those with slightly 
stuck or broken-down yolks in various stages of addling. These eggs 
in the early stages are a form of mixed rot and are classed as such in 
Table 3. 
Table 5.— 
-Relation of quality 
of clean eggs to preservation 
Fresh eggs with clean, 
sound shells. 
Stale and heated eggs 
with clean shells. 
Stale and heated eggs 
with damaged shells. 
Month of withdrawal. 
Eggs 
ob- 
served. 
Bad eggs per 
case. 
Eggs 
ob- 
served. 
Bad eggs per 
case. 
Eggs 
served. 
Bad eggs per 
case. 
Can- 
dling. 
Break- 
ing. 
Can- 
dling. 
Break- 
ing. 
Can- 
dling. 
Break- 
ing. 
April 
1,026 

0.5 
May 
June '. 
July.... 
977 
949 
938 
949 
901 
954 
960 
926 
946 

8 
6 
2.5 
13.5 
14.5 
14 
24 
23 

4 
9 
4.5 
9.5 
10.5 
14 
12.5 
19 
90 
104 
106 
111 
109 
94 
100 
129 
96 

58 
64 
83 
135.5 
175 
147. 5 
232.5 
251 
4 
August 
3.5 
710 
704 
695 
709 
694 
715 
717 

1 
0.5 
0.5 

1 
2.5 
2.5 
1.5 
2 
1 
2.5 
2 
2.5 
20.5 
October 
32 
November 
33 
December 
11.5 
January 
18 
February 
19 
March 
15 
It does not follow, however, that because many of the eggs marketed 
in the summer months are shrunken and heated and do not keep well 
in storage, the eggs as laid by the hen in the summer are not initially 
as good in quality as those laid in the spring. Fresh hennery eggs 
laid in April and July, delivered to storage within approximately 48 
hours after being laid, showed a negligible loss in bad eggs, even after 
along period of storage (Table 6). The bad eggs present were those 
showing a slight breaking down of the yolk. No eggs with green 
whites or crusted yolks were found. Their absence was to be ex- 
pected, because the natural condition of the shell had not been 
disturbed through soiling, washing, or contact with damp surround- 
ings. The good results in this report show the improvement yet to 
be attained in the commercial marketing of summer eggs. 
99369°— 19— Bull. 775 2 
