Eggs (1946)

these long low buildings are part of a large egg farm this egg farm has many laying houses just like this one this is mr. Tom Williams a helper mr. Williams takes care of all the hens and the eggs in this house the hens stay inside the house all the time they never go outdoors inside this house the hands eat and lay eggs they walk and run and rest everything in the house is clean there's good light and sunshine there's plenty of fresh air mr. Williams cleans the water pans every day the hands always have clean fresh running water hens that lay lots of eggs drink lots of water these hens are healthy and strong ground up corn cobs cover the floor they are dry and clean for the hens feet this helps keep eggs clean each hen has a ban on her leg with her number on it it takes many buckets of feed for thousands of hens whole grains such as oats and corn is good food for hims that lay eggs into this trough goes enough feed to last three days and now condensed buttermilk almost as thick as blood condensed buttermilk and dry grain mash hims like these together the hems Peck and peck at it they eat all they want a hen needs something gritty to grind her food this oyster shell is gritty it also helps to make strong egg shells these hens get the best of care these hens lay the finest of eggs mr. Williams gathers eggs from open nests he works quickly but carefully in the openness hens are free to come and go many hens may lay eggs in nest the helper gathers the eggs five day fresh eggs clean shells in the other end of the house there are trapped nests this hem goes into the nest the door closes behind her so she can't get out which nests will these other hens choose it won't be many minutes until each hand in the trap nests lays an egg mr. Williams empties the nest many times a day he wears an egg apron to carry the eggs he keeps both hands busy opening the door taking out the hand on the egg and marking the chart here's a hem of his laid an egg here's the egg here's the hymns number the helper marks the time when he takes the egg three days a week the helper ways each egg he gathers from the trap nests this is an extra-large egg if the egg is large and if the hen lays one nearly every day she's a very good laying hen these hens seem to be looking for this too they walk and they stop and they look which nests will they go into now let's see what mr. Williams does with the eggs he is collected all the eggs go into thick paper cases which keep them from breaking this case of eggs is ready for the cooling room the egg cases have large holes so the air can move about the eggs all the time all day long the helper cares for the hens in his laying house and gathers and cases eggs for the cooling room in the cooling room the cool air keeps the eggs fresh they stay here two days or longer then the eggs go into the candling and grading room some eggshells become a little dirty the electric egg cleaner takes off dirt small lowers hold the eggs against whirling wheels these wheels take off dirt and leave the shell clean a final touch with the sandpaper brush cleans the ends eggs and more eggs eggs from the cooling room right along on a conveyor that tray of three dozen eggs onto the conveyor eggs clean and white dozens and dozens of eggs one by one the eggs roll off the conveyor to a moving belt the belt takes them to the candling machine to be tested a man looks at each egg in front of strong lights good clear eggs like these passed the test this is how a good egg looks to the man at the candling machine sometimes he finds an egg that has a spot in it the spot doesn't mean that it's a bad egg but he takes it out this egg has a shell that might break the man at the candling machine takes out all the eggs like this they will be sold as frozen eggs or dried eggs or powdered eggs this machine separates the eggs according to size the extra-large eggs come off the Machine first next the large sized eggs then the medium-sized eggs and then small eggs each size is kept together as the helpers pack the eggs some go into large shipping cases some into cartons the small n goes down the large end up dozens of fresh eggs cartons closed sealed with a government label of quality and size all eggs go into fiber cases holding 30 dozen eggs this man seals the cases of eggs and they are ready for shipment every day many thousands of eggs are wheeled out to the loading room for shipping the covered truck protects the eggs from the heat of the Sun hot sunshine would spoil eggs quickly so that is how we get eggs from the egg farm eggs on their way perhaps the truck will go to the railroad station and a train will carry the eggs to the city or perhaps they will go over the highway directly to the food stores where we may buy them clean and fresh and good to eat