There are some other peculiarities that may exist in eggs at the time of laying, such as a blood clot enclosed with the contents of the egg, a broken yolk or perhaps bacterial contamination.  “Tape worms,” so-called by egg candlers, are detached portions of the membrane lining of the egg.  “Liver spots” or “meat spots” are detached folds from the walls of the oviduct.  Such abnormalities are rare and not worth worrying about.

The shells of eggs vary in shape, color and firmness.  These variations are more a matter of breed and individual idiosyncrasy than of care or feed.

The strength of egg shells is important because of the loss from breakage.  The distinction between weak and firm shelled eggs is not one, however, which can be readily remedied.  Nothing more can be advised in this regard than to feed a ration containing plenty of mineral matter and to discard hens that lay noticeably weak shelled or irregularly shaped eggs.

Preference in the color of eggs shells is a hobby, and one well worth catering to.  As is commonly stated, Boston and surrounding towns want brown eggs, while New York and San Francisco demand white eggs.  These trade fancies take their origin in the circumstances of there being large henneries in the respective localities producing the particular class of eggs.  If the eggs from such farms are the best in the market and were uniformly of a particular shade, that mark of distinction, like the trade name on a popular article, would naturally become a selling point.  Only the select trade consider the color in buying.

Eggs of all Mediterranean breeds are white.  Those of Asiatics are brown.  Those of the American breeds are usually brown, but not of so uniform a tint.

The size of eggs is chiefly controlled by the breed or by selection of layers of large eggs.  In a number of experiments published by various experiment stations, slight differences in the sizes of the eggs have been noted with varying rations and environment, but this cannot be attributed to anything more specific than the general development and vigor of the fowls.  Pullets, at the beginning of the laying period, lay an egg decidedly smaller than those produced at a later stage in life.

The egg size table below gives the size of representative classes of eggs.  These figures must not be applied too rigidly, as the eggs of all breeds and all localities vary.  They are given as approximate averages of the eggs one might reasonably expect to find in the class mentioned.

Eggsize table.

Geographical          breed                     Net Wt.    Weight  Relative
classification        classifications           Per 30    Ounces  Values
Dozen     Per     Per
Case      Dozen   Dozen

  Southern Iowa’s Purebred flocks of 45 lbs. 24 25c. 
  “Two ounce eggs” American varieties of
                        “egg farm Leghorns.”