Egg Weight, Day Old Chick Weight and Rate of Growth in Single Comb Rhode Island Red Chicks

It is a common opinion of poultrymen that large eggs produce large chicks and that large chicks are stronger and grow more rapidly than others. There has been some evidence presented to show that the larger eggs produce heavier chicks at hatching-time, but the author has been unable to find any reference to a study of the relationship of chick weight at hatching to subsequent rate of growth. The purpose of this paper is to aid in determining whether or not heavier eggs produce heavier chicks at hatching time and whether or not heavier chicks grow more rapidly than those that are lighter in weight when hatched. The work of Halbersleben and Mussehl1 (1922) revealed that the heavier eggs produced the heavier chicks. The weight of the chicks averaged to be 64.9% of that of the eggs from which they were hatched when brown eggs were considered. Jull and Quinn2 . . .