Production characteristics of Hy-Line W36 laying hens hatched from white and tinted eggs

Eggshell color can greatly influence visual appeal of table eggs, and within the United States, table eggs are normally sorted and marked according to eggshell color to maximize consumer appeal. Recently, table egg producers have noted increased incidence of "off-color" or tinted (TT) eggs derived from white egg laying breeder hens. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to determine the production characteristics and resultant eggshell color of laying hens hatched from different colored eggs. Hy-Line W36 eggs were obtained from a commercial breeder operation and eggshell color was assessed with a colorimeter to separate eggs into groups of tinted (TT) and nontinted (NT) eggs before incubation. Treatment groups were placed into separate hatching trays. At hatching, chicks from each treatment group were individually wing-banded. Pullets were randomly allocated into cages according to treatment groups at 18 wk. Birds were placed into individual cages, with 5 consecutive cages representing a treatment replicate. Each treatment was replicated 24 times for a total of 120 birds per treatment and fed a nutritionally complete layer diet. Production performance was evaluated from 18 to 34 wk of age. Average weekly egg production was calculated. Feed intake, egg weights, egg mass, feed conversion ratio, and egg color were analyzed every 2 wk. Birds were weighed every 4 wk until completion of the study. Birds hatched from TT eggs had significantly increased BW throughout the experimental period. Hen-day egg production was significantly different when compared with the NT treatment at 19 and 20 wk of age. Eggshell color was also found to be significantly different for the NT and TT groups with TT eggs being significantly further from true white. Selection of progeny based on eggshell color may be a criterion for selecting white egg layers as layers hatched from TT eggs resulted in more off-color eggs, which may affect consumer acceptance for buying white table eggs.