Assessment of egg quality and hatch results of two show hen breeds raised for fancy

Growing interest in fancy breeding of hens motivates people to undertake research regarding their performance traits. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the quality of eggs and results of hatch of the following breeds: polish miniature crested bearded hens – gold variety with frizzy (CzZSz) and normal (CzZ) feather structure, silver (CzS), chamois (CzW) and silkie (Si). Eggs were evaluated in three periods of egg production. Hatching was carried out with the use of eggs from the production peak. The qualities of eggs changed according to the period of production. The largest differences were observed for the thickness of shells, percentage share of the yolk and albumen in an egg and the yolk color as well as its height and index. Among the examined breeds, the biggest statistically significant differences were found for the egg weight and the shell surface and thickness. Eggs with the largest weight and with the largest surface shell were characteristic for gold crested (CzZ) - 43.37 g and 58.59 cm2, whereas eggs with the smallest weight and with the smallest surface, for chamois crested (CzW) - 35.64 g and 51.49 cm2. The lowest fertilization was observed for eggs of silver crested hens (CzS) - 86.7%, whereas the highest for eggs of chamois crested hens (CzW) - 100%. The highest percentage share of dead embryos in relation to set eggs was found for gold crested hens with frizzy feather structure (CzZSz) - 16.7%, whereas the lowest for silver crested hens (CzS) - 3.3%.