![]() ![]() Water is really a super-highway for bacterial movement over the egg surface and to the egg interior though open pores. ![]() Once the cuticle dries, it contributes to the water resistance of eggs. Clean bedding or an Astroturf mat will do wonders for keeping your eggs cleaner. Keep hens from roosting in them or else they will defecate in the nest box. Each time you touch that tacky egg, you disrupt the bloom and lower the shell’s defenses That is where keeping your nest boxes as clean as possible is important or else bacteria may have a chance to enter the pores before the cuticle can do its job. Have you ever touched an egg that is so fresh that it is still tacky to the touch? That is the bloom that has yet to dry. In this period of time, bacteria are fully capable of entering the pores. The bloom takes a few minutes to dry after the egg leaves the hen’s body. Of greater concern to he flock owner is that the bloom is most effective at preventing bacterial contamination after it is dried. Sometimes the bloom is not spread evenly over the shell surface. The bloom is not always consistent, though. The bloom does act to repel water because bacteria find water easy to travel through when attempting to colonize. ![]() The second layer is the outermost layer and it is more compact. ![]() The first layer is closest to the shell’s palisade layer and it is foamy. It consists of glycoproteins, lipids, polysaccharides and inorganic phosphorous. The bloom is only between ten and thirty micrometers thick. It is designed to break down and be removed to open up the pores But what about when it is time for the embryo to begin gas exchange with the outside world? The bloom does not last for forever. The pores are large enough to allow bacteria in so that makes blocking the pores a good idea. The shell, as a defense mechanism against bacteria, has the bloom blocking the pores. (As a hen ages, or if she is sick, she may lay eggs that are of lower quality and then the yolk moves more freely within the egg, potentially bumping against a side and coming into contact with bacterial intruders.)Īlso, the egg white contains lysozyme which is detrimental to bacterial contaminants. The sides are where bacteria on the surface would come from if they were working their way inward to the yolk. The egg white is viscous and holds the yolk pretty much dead center from any side of the egg. The egg white itself does a double whammy in that is uses both mechanical and chemical means to deny bacteria access to the yolk. The defenses of the egg mainly come in the form of the shell and the egg white. The incredible, defensible eggĪlthough the yolk is pretty much defenseless, the rest of the egg is not. That means bacteria to get onto, and potentially into, the egg-that yolk at the center is pretty terrific nourishment for growing bacteria, as well as the chick embryo. Now why would the hen want to block the pores? Well, the passage way for the egg to leave the hen’s body goes right through the cloaca which is also the exit point for fecal and urinary tract material. The bloom, when it is added to the shell during the final hour and a half of egg formation, blocks those pores. The egg contains thousands of pores which allow for the exchange of gases as the embryo develops. The shell is designed to ensure the well-being of the embryo. In short, it is a foamy layer of protein that surrounds the egg. Maybe the conversations you have heard have used an alternate name for the bloom sometimes it is called the cuticle. The bloom is the outermost covering on an egg and is the last part of the shell put on before the hen lays the egg. Let’s learn more about the bloom and be willing to tell others. If you are an old hat at chicken keeping then you may or may not feel competent talking in depth about the bloom and maybe even have partaken in a debate over it. If you are new to chicken keeping, then you probably have not yet had an in-depth conversation with someone about “the bloom.” If you are the average chicken keeper, with chickens for about five or six years, then you have probably at least heard of the bloom and have maybe learned some more about it. ![]()
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