Inter-relationship between egg weight, parental age and embryonic development

A clear positive correlation was evident between egg weight at setting and embryo weight at 18 d of incubation for eggs laid at or after 32 weeks of age. The weight of embryos from the same size eggs were found to depend upon a curvilinear function of the age of parent flock, with the largest increase in embryo weight occurring between 28 and 32 weeks of age. Hatching weight was highly correlated with egg size at setting. Flock age had no effect on hatching weight from a particular sized egg. Within any of the five ages studied, chicks from smaller eggs tended to hatch slightly (but not significantly) earlier than those from larger eggs.