There are several ways to collect eggs for small scale farming. A mechanical system, plastic mats, and shavings can all be used. The best system for egg collecting is the one that will fit your needs. The materials you will need depend on the size of your flock. If you are trying to save on cost, straw and shavings are the easiest to find and purchase. But for a more environmentally friendly option, choose a mechanical egg collecting system.
Mechanical egg collecting system
A small scale mechanical egg collecting system has a number of advantages. Designed by a team of professional electrical engineers, this system incorporates a cross conveyor and belt to safely transport the eggs to the classifier room. The system runs with low noise and is able to collect eggs without breaking any of them. It is also capable of achieving high efficiency as the eggs are transported without damaging them. The advantages of this system are listed below:
It is made of durable polypropylene material. This material is odourless, anti-static and bacterial resistant. It is also recyclable. The egg collection belt can be customized with different colors. The plastic material is easy to clean and reuse, allowing for a quick inspection of each egg. The egg collection belt can also be easily moved around the hen house. The belt can be easily cleaned after use, thus reducing the risk of contamination.
The egg-collecting system can collect eggs from more than one nest at a time. The egg collection system is composed of four modules designed for each row of nests and each compartment. The comb has a hole opening where eggs laid by hens will fall. During its travel, eggs will be rolled over to the middle of the nest to be collected. Once the eggs have been collected, the system returns to its original position.
Plastic mats
We recently investigated the effectiveness of a small-scale egg-collecting system using plastic mats. We compared three mat designs, each with different proportions of scratch mat space per hen. In the first set, we found that fewer hens lay their eggs on mats compared to the other types. The second set of mats was more effective for collecting eggs, but we found that both mats did not produce the desired results.
Plastic egg-laying box straw mats can be used as an alternative to traditional rice-husk straw. They replace the traditional rice-husk straw, and their cross-connection ribs allow for manure leakage. Soft pillars are arranged on the top of each mat to discourage hens from pecking at it. These mats also improve egg cleanliness, because they do not retain chicken manure.
The advantages of this system over other methods are several. The eggs should be kept at the same temperature until they are washed. Eggs sweat when they are moved from a cold environment to a warm environment, and the condensation on the surface of the egg helps the movement of bacteria and microbes within the shell. In the past, eggs were kept in plastic-coated wire baskets or fibreboard flats. Fibreboard flats can hold 30 eggs. It is important to separate clean eggs from damaged ones.
Straw
A small scale egg collecting system can be set up by a home-based farmer in a relatively small area. The main reason for choosing such a small system is the relative ease of handling. The eggs can be handled and inspected easily. Labels on eggs provide important information about them. The label might tell the producer and other important details about the eggs, like how long they should be stored and when they expire. Those facts may help the buyer decide to purchase the eggs.
Another benefit to using straw is that it provides a soft nesting area for your hens. Because straw is soft, it will discourage your chickens from hiding their eggs. Additionally, oat straw absorbs moisture from fresh-laid eggs, making the nesting area easier to clean. If your small scale egg collecting system uses straw, you can use the soiled material as nitrogen-rich mulch for your garden.
Another disadvantage to using straw is that it is difficult to keep the coop dry. Straw also tends to mat, making it more difficult to clean the coop and eggs. It also harbors parasites and mites. As a result, it is not the best choice for small scale chicken keeping. To get started on a small scale egg collecting system, read The Chicken Doctor’s article below. And don’t forget to consider the other advantages of straw as well!
Shavings
If you’re considering setting up a small scale egg collecting system, you’ll need bedding. While straw is the most common type of bedding, it’s hard to clean properly and frequently needs to be replaced. Besides that, straw can be prone to clumping and knotting, and it may be sprayed with pesticides. Shavings are an alternative that can help prevent these problems. Shavings come in various types of wood, and some people don’t recommend using cedar or pine shavings because of their toxicity to chickens.
One thing to be aware of when choosing shavings for your small scale egg collection system is their composition. Pine shavings contain a resin and aromatic substance that may linger on the wood after it has been processed. As a result, the shavings can be soaked, resulting in soggy litter in your chicken coop or nestbox. As eggshells are permeable, they can absorb moisture from the shavings, which could be detrimental to the fresh-laid eggs. Moreover, pine shavings are notorious for their high dust content.
Another advantage of wood shavings for chickens is that they are widely available. A bag of compressed pine shavings can expand to eight cubic feet of shavings and cost around $6. In addition, pine shavings can be fluffed by layers into nests. However, if you have too many hens, they may overdo it and kick them out. To avoid this, you may want to consider using pine shavings for chicken bedding.
Calculations for egg laying cycle
For small-scale farming, there are many considerations when designing the egg-laying cycle. The number of eggs produced by a particular breed is important in determining the number of hens needed to meet the production goals. Typically, these calculations are made on a monthly basis. The data is collected from a trade organisation representing Swedish packing centers. The trade organisation uses a 60-gram average egg as a base, and then divides it by the number of laying hens.
A successful system should take into account the varying length of day. Egg production is stimulated by daylight, so the longer the day, the more eggs a flock will lay. The ideal egg laying period for chickens is around five hours, so collecting the eggs twice a day will improve productivity. Also, eggs must be collected frequently in order to avoid the accumulation of dirt and begin the cooling process. Egg storage temperatures should be around 60degF and 70percent relative humidity. At room temperature, an egg will decrease a grade per day, but fertile eggs develop embryos at about 85degF.
A good way to plan for this cycle is to keep a log of the eggs produced by each hen. Egg production is based on a number of factors, including the breed of the laying hen, the type of food and the environment. The eggs produced will vary, but they are generally consistent. Using an egg-laying calendar will help keep the production levels steady. A table showing the egg-laying cycles for small-scale egg collecting systems will help you plan accordingly.
Concerns about animal suffering and welfare
The growing popularity of laying hen eggs has raised several concerns about animal welfare and suffering in the small-scale egg collecting system. This is especially true because the chickens have virtually no legal protection during transportation. There are three major federal animal welfare laws that do not apply to chickens: the Animal Welfare Act and the Twenty-Eight Hour Law. The Animal Welfare Act protects animals from cruelty during transit, but does not apply to chickens. The Twenty-Eight Hour Law requires animals to be restrained for at least five hours, allowing for proper nutrition and water. The Twenty-Eight Hour Law does not apply to chickens.
These regulations have the potential to harm human and animal welfare. It is important to note that egg companies cannot voluntarily report on their practices. In fact, the standards set by these companies are often factory farmed, which makes the industry’s standards misleading for consumers. However, the two most significant third-party verification programs are non-governmental organizations. These organizations use animal welfare guidelines similar to those set by the egg industry. Unfortunately, these eggs are more expensive and harder to find than non-certified eggs.
A number of companies are moving away from this practice, which is considered to be detrimental to egg quality. While ‘perches’ have long been used in egg production, they are not considered to be good for the welfare of the chickens. Instead, major egg companies prefer ‘trap nests’ for the housing of pureline females. This type of housing also allows for more detailed monitoring of individual bird data, including their egg quality. The two companies currently using this type of system are Lohmann and Hendrix Genetics.