EGG QUALITY OF CREOLE HENS REARED IN THE BACKYARD

Abstract

The egg quality from Creole backyard hens was determined by collecting samples from 11 municipalities from the central area of Michoacan State, Mexico. It was measured: egg weight (EW), longitude diameter (LD) of the egg, transversal diameter (TD) of the egg, shell weight (SW), shell thickness (ST), shell index (SI), white diameter (WD), yolk diameter (YD), white high (WH), yolk high (YH), air chamber high (ACH) and Haugh units (HU). The averages obtained were: EW 50.7 g; LD 5.6 cm; TD 4.2 cm; SW 4.5 g.; ST 0.28 mm; SI 8.9 %; WD 10.0 cm; YD 4.5 cm; WH 6.3 mm; YH 1.6 cm; ACH 5.4 mm; HU 73.4, YP 12.1. In conclusion, the eggs of backyard hens were smaller than commercial eggs. However, the internal quality indicators suggested that backyard hen eggs have similar quality to that of commercial hens.

Keywords

• traditional poultry production
• backyard poultry production
• free-range egg
• egg size