The Dollar Hen Part 18

The common trade name for cracked eggs is checks. Blind checks are those in which the break in the sh.e.l.l is not readily observable.

They are detected with the aid of the candle, or by sounding, which consists of clicking the eggs together. Dents are checks in which the egg sh.e.l.l is pushed in without rupturing the membrane. Leakers have lost part of the contents and are not only an entire loss themselves, but produce smeared eggs.

The loss from breakage varies considerably with the amount of handling in the process of marketing. A western produce house, collecting from grocers by local freight will record from four to seven per cent. of checks. With properly handled eggs the loss through breakage should not run over one or two per cent.

Eggs in which the chick has begun to develop are spoken of as "heated" eggs. Infertile eggs cannot heat because the germ has not been fertilized and can make no growth. That such infertile eggs cannot spoil is, however, a mistaken notion, for they are subjected to all the other factors by which

eggs may be spoiled. The sale of eggs tested out of the incubators has been encouraged by the dissemination of the knowledge that infertile eggs are not changed by incubation. Eggs thrown out of an incubator will be shrunken and weakened, and some of them may contain dead germs and the remains of chicks that have died after starting to develop. Such eggs may be sold for what they are, but should never be mixed with other eggs or sold as fresh. When carefully candled they should be worth ten or twelve cents a dozen.

Fertile eggs, at the time of laying, cannot be told from infertile eggs, as the germ of the chick is microscopic in size. If the egg is immediately cooled and held at a temperature below 70 degrees, the germ will not develop. At a temperature of 103 degrees, the development of the chick proceeds most rapidly. At this temperature the development is about as follows:

Twelve hours incubation: When broken in a saucer, the germ spot, visible upon all eggs, seems somewhat enlarged. Looked at with a candle such an egg cannot be distinguished from a fresh egg.

Twenty-four hours: The germ spot mottled and about the size of a dime. This egg, if not too dark sh.e.l.led, can readily be detected with the candle, the germ spot causing the yolk to appear considerably darker than the yolk of a fresh egg. Such an egg is called a heavy egg or a floater.

Forty-eight hours: By this time the opaque white membrane, which surrounds the germ, has spread well over the top of the yolk, and the egg is quite dark or heavy before the light. Blood appears at about this period, but is difficult of detection by the candler, unless the germ dies and the blood ring sticks to the membrane of the egg.

Three days: The blood ring is the prominent feature and is as large as a nickel. The yolk behind the membrane has become watery.

Four days: The body of the chick becomes readily visible, and prominent radiating blood vessels are seen. The yolk is half covered with a water containing membrane.

These stages develop as given, occurring at a temperature of 103 degrees. As the temperature is lowered the rate of chick development is r.e.t.a.r.ded, but at any temperature above 70, this development will proceed far enough to cause serious injury to the quality of the eggs.

For commercial use eggs may be grouped in regard to heating as follows:

(1) No heat shown. Cannot be told at the candle from fresh eggs.

(2) Light floats. First grade that can be separated by candling, corresponding to about twenty-four hours of incubation. These are not objectionable to the average housewife.

(3) Heavy floats. This group has no distinction from the former, except an exaggeration of the same feature. These eggs are objectionable to the fastidious housewife, because of the appearing of the white and sc.u.mmy looking allantois on the yolk.

(4) Blood rings. Eggs in which blood has developed, extending to the period when the chick becomes visible. (5) Chicks visible to the candle.

The loss due to heated eggs is enormous; probably greater than that caused by any other source of loss to the egg trade. The loss varies with the season of the year, and the climate. In New England heat loss is to be considered as in the same cla.s.s as loss from dirties and checks. In Texas the egg business from the 15th of June until cool weather in the fall is practically dead. People stop eating eggs at home and shipping out of the State nets the producer such small returns by the time the loss is allowed that, at the prices offered, it hardly pays the farmer to gather the eggs. In the season of 1901 hatched chickens were commonly found in cases of market eggs, throughout the trans-Mississippi region, and eggs did well to net the shippers three cents per dozen.

Damage to eggs by heating and consequent financial loss is inexcusable. In the first place, market eggs have no business being fertilized, but whether they are or not they should be kept in a place sufficiently cool to prevent all germ growth.

The egg sh.e.l.l is porous so that the developing chick may obtain air.

This exposes the moist contents of the egg to the drying influence of the atmosphere. Evaporation from eggs takes place constantly. It is increased by warm temperatures, dry air and currents of air striking the egg.

When the egg is formed within the hen the contents fill the sh.e.l.l completely. As the egg cools the contents shrink, and the two layers of membrane separate in the large end of the egg, causing the appearance of the bubble or air cell. Evaporation of water from the egg further shrinks the contents and increases the size of the air cell. The size of the air cell is commonly taken as a guide to the age of the egg. But when we consider that with the same relative humidity on a hot July day, evaporation would take place about ten times as fast as on a frosty November morning, and that differences in humidity and air currents equally great occur between localities, we see that the age of an egg, judged by this method, means simply the extent of evaporation, and proves nothing at all about the actual age.

Even as a measure of evaporation, the size of the air cell may be deceptive, for when an egg with an air cell of considerable size is roughly handled, the air cell breaks down the side of the egg, and gives the air cell the appearance of being larger than it really is.

Still rougher handling of shrunken eggs may cause the rupture of the inner membrane, allowing the air to escape into the contents of the egg. This causes a so-called watery or frothy egg. The quality is in no wise injured by the mechanical mishap, but eggs so ruptured are usually discriminated against by candlers.

In this connection it might be well to speak further of the subject of "white strength," by which is meant the stiffness or viscosity of the egg white. The white of an egg is a limpid, clear liquid, but in the egg of good quality that portion immediately surrounding the yolk appears to be in a semi-solid ma.s.s. The cause of this appearance is the presence of an invisible network of fibrous material. By age and mechanical disturbance this network is gradually broken down and the liquid white separates out. Such a weak and watery white is usually a.s.sociated with shrunken eggs.

These eggs will not stand up well or whip into a firm froth and are thrown in lower grades.

The weakness of the yolk membranes also increases with age, and is objectionable because the breakage of the yolk is unsightly and spoils the egg for poaching.

The shrunken egg is most abundant in the fall, when the rising prices tempt the farmer and grocery man to hold the eggs. This holding is so prevalent, in fact, that from August to December full fresh eggs are the exception rather than the rule.

While we have called attention to evaporation as the most p.r.o.nounced fault of fall eggs, losses from other causes are greatly increased by the holding process.

If the eggs are held in a warm place, heat and shrinkage will case the greatest damage; if held in a cellar, rot, mold, and bad odors will cause the chief loss.

The loss due to shrunken eggs is not understood nor appreciated by those outside the trade. Such ignorance is due to the fact that the shrunken is not so repulsive as the rotten or heated egg. But the inferiority of the shrunken egg is so well appreciated by the consumer that high cla.s.s dealers find it impossible to use them without ruining their trade. The result is that shrunken eggs are constantly being sent into the cheaper channels, with the result that all lower grades of eggs are more depreciated in the fall of the year than at any other time.

In the cla.s.ses of spoiled eggs, of which we have thus far spoken, the proverbial rotten egg has not been considered. The term "rot" in the egg trade is used to apply to any egg absolutely unfit for food purposes. But I prefer to confine the term "rotten egg" to the egg which contains a growth of bacteria.

The normal egg when laid is germ free. But the egg sh.e.l.l is not germ proof. The pores in the egg sh.e.l.l proper are large enough to admit all forms of bacteria, but the membrane inside the sh.e.l.l is germ proof as long as it remains dry. When this membrane becomes moist so that bacteria may grow in it, these germs of decay quickly grow through it and contaminate the contents of the egg.

Heat favors the growth of bacteria in eggs and sufficient cold prevents it, but as bacteria cannot enter without moisture on the surface of the egg we can consider dampness as the cause of rotten eggs. Moisture on the sh.e.l.l may come from an external wetting, from the "sweating" of eggs coming out of cold storage, or by the prevention of evaporation to such an extent that the external moisture of the egg thoroughly soaks the membrane. The latter happens in damp cellars, and when eggs are covered with some impervious material.

Rotten eggs may be of different kinds, according to the species of germ that causes the decomposition. The specific kinds of egg rotting bacteria have not been worked out, but the following three groups of bacterially infected eggs are readily distinguishable in the practical work of egg candling.

(1) Black rots. It is probable that many different species of bacteria cause this form of rotten eggs. The prominent feature is the formation of hydrogen sulphide gas, which blackens the contents of the egg, gives the characteristic rotten egg smell and sometimes causes the equally well known explosion.

(2) Sour eggs or white rots. These eggs have a characteristic sour smell. The contents become watery, the yolk and the whites mix and the whole egg is offensive to both eye and nose.

(3) The spot rot. In this the bacterial growth has not contaminated the whole egg, but has remained near the point of entrance. Such eggs are readily picked out with the candle, and when broken open show lumpy adhesions on the inside of the sh.e.l.l. These lumps are of various colors and appearances. It is probable that these spots are caused as much by mold as by bacteria, but for practical purposes the distinction is immaterial.

In practice it is impossible to separate rotten from heated eggs for the reason that in the typical nest of spoiled eggs found around the farm, both causes have been at work. Dead chicks will not necessarily cause the eggs to decay, but many such eggs do become contaminated by bacteria before they reach the candler, and hence, as a physician would say, show complications.

The loss of eggs that are actually rotten is not as great as one might imagine. Perhaps one or two per cent. of the country's egg crop actually rot, but the expenses of the candling necessitated, and the lowering of value of eggs that contain even a few rotten specimens are severe losses.

Moldy or musty eggs are caused by accidentally wet cases or damp cellars and ice houses. The moldy egg is most frequently a spot rot.

In the musty egg proper the meat is free from foreign organisms, but has been tainted by the odor of mold growth upon the sh.e.l.l or packing materials.

The absorption of odors is the most baffling of all causes of bad eggs. Here the candler, so expert in other points, is usually helpless. Eggs, by storage in old musty cellars, or in rooms, with lemons, onions and cheese, may become so badly flavored as to be seriously objected to by a fancy trade, and yet there is no means of detecting the trouble without destroying the egg. Such eggs occur most frequently among the held stock of the fall season.

The Loss Due to Carelessness.

The egg crop of the country, more than ninety-five per cent, of which originates on the general farm, is subject to immense waste due to ignorant and careless handling. The great ma.s.s of eggs for sale in our large cities possess to a greater or less degree the faults we have discussed.

Some idea of the loss due to the present shiftless method of handling eggs, may be obtained by a comparison of the actual average prices received for all eggs sold in New York City, and the wholesale prices quoted by a prominent New York firm dealing in high grade goods. The contrasted price for the year 1907 are as follows:

Prices at which total goods Wholesale prices for strictly moved. fresh eggs.

January 25.8 January 42.

February 24.5 February 40.

March 19.3 March 32.

April 16.9 April 30.

May 16.6 May 31.

June 15.5 June 32.

July 15.6 July 35.

August 17.7 August 38.

September 20.7 September 40.

October 21.4 October 42.