The Problem of Blood and Meat Spots in Chicken Eggs

IN AN earlier paper (Nalbandov and Card, 1944) the work done at the Illinois Experiment Station from 1940 to 1943 on the physiology of blood and meat spots was summarized. The conclusions reached at that time were, in brief, as follows. Blood clots are due to the rupturing of blood vessels in the follicle wall, sometime prior to ovulation and during the active growing phase of the follicle. If the bleeding is insignificant in amount the resulting clot will adhere to the vitelline membrane and will remain attached to the yolk while the latter passes through the oviduct. If the bleeding is extensive the blood will accumulate in the hollow stalk of the follicle, the clot appearing in the laid egg not attached to the yolk but floating free in the albumen. Meat spots also frequently become detached from the yolk presumably under the influence of the chemical changes which . . .