Twelve Million Laying Birds

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30499, 22 July 1964, Page 17

Twelve Million Laying Birds

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

LONDON, July 21.

Britain’s first con-veyor-belt egg-packing station, built as an integral part of a huge egg farm, will start operating in Nottinghamshire next month with 12 million laying birds, savs the “Daily Mail.”

The fully-automated station, which will eliminate a big slice of egg-handling costs, has been approved by the Egg Marketing Board. “Every egg passing through the station will be touched only once,” says the newspaper—“by a girl lifting it from the wire tray where the hen laid it on to an endless conveyor belt. “Uhls will roll it gently to the end of the house, on to a belt running at right-angles, which will carry it until it rolls into the grading machine inside the station. Graded eggs will be packed automatically into dozen or half-dozen cartons, and the next person to touch them will be the housewife.” Already two laying houses, the first of seven on the farm, are rolling out eggs. The third will be in production shortly. One girl looks after the 26,000 birds in each house.

and the 20,000 or so eggs they lay every day. This is about one-fifth of average staffing.

“It is believed that the push-button system will produce exceptionally fresh eggs for the housewife, and eliminate most of the haircracked shells which occur in normal handling,” said tbe newspaper.