Egg Grading and Sizing: Sorting Before You Sell
TL;DR: Sorting takes minutes and changes how a buyer sees you. Sort by size into consistent groups — a kitchen scale beats eye judgement. Reject cracked eggs, thin or damaged shells, dirty eggs that would need washing, and anything wrong on candling. Candle if you sell in any quantity: it shows cracks, air cell size and internal abnormalities. Buyers pay for consistency more than for any single quality, and a tray of mixed sizes reads as careless.
The cheapest upgrade available to a backyard egg seller, and almost nobody does it.
What Grading Covers
Commercial grading sorts on two axes:
Size, determined by weight.
Quality, which covers:
- Shell — intact, sound, normal shape and texture.
- Cleanliness — clean without having been washed.
- Interior — assessed by candling, and by air cell size.
For a backyard seller the useful version is simpler: sort by size, and remove what should not be sold.
Sorting by Size
Use a kitchen scale. Weighing is quick, consistent, and far more reliable than eye judgement — and it lets you group eggs sensibly rather than approximately.
Why bother:
- A tray of wildly mixed sizes reads as careless, and buyers notice.
- Consistency is what buyers pay for — see selling eggs in the Philippines.
- Small eggs have their own market. Pullet eggs are wanted by some buyers for the proportionally larger yolk, and selling them as such is more honest and often better paid than burying them in a standard tray.
Why sizes vary in a backyard flock: hen age, mostly. Young hens lay small eggs and size increases as they mature and continue rising with age — see how many eggs does a hen lay in a lifetime. A mixed-age flock naturally produces mixed sizes, which is normal rather than a fault.
What Never Gets Sold
| Reject | Why |
|---|---|
| Cracked eggs | No barrier against contamination |
| Very thin or damaged shells | Same, plus they break in transport — see soft-shelled eggs |
| Dirty eggs | Washing removes the protective cuticle — collect clean eggs instead, see how to store chicken eggs |
| Anything wrong on candling | See below |
| Anything that smells | Obvious, and worth stating |
| Eggs within a withdrawal period | Food safety — see antibiotics for chickens |
That last row is easy to overlook. If any bird in the flock has been treated, eggs are not sold until the withdrawal period ends.
Candling
Held against a light in a dark space, an egg shows:
- Cracks invisible in normal light.
- Air cell size, which grows as an egg ages — the same principle as the float test.
- Internal abnormalities, including blood and meat spots.
It is the same technique used to check fertility during incubation — see candling eggs — and it takes seconds per egg once you have the setup.
Worth doing if you sell in any quantity. Blood spots are harmless ruptured vessels and have nothing to do with fertility — see can hens lay eggs without a rooster — but a buyer who finds one may not want the next tray, so sorting them out is commercial rather than a safety matter.
Handling Around Grading
- Collect frequently — several times a day. Clean eggs come from clean nests and prompt collection, not from washing. See nest box design.
- Remove broken eggs immediately, because a broken egg in a nest teaches egg eating.
- Date them as you collect, and sell oldest first.
- Decide washed or unwashed and be consistent, and tell buyers — it determines how they should keep them. See how to store chicken eggs.
- Store cool, pointed end down, out of the sun.
Where the Rules Sit
Commercial egg grading and classification is governed by standards and by what your buyers require. What applies to you depends on scale and on the channel you sell into.
- Municipal or city agriculture office — start here.
- Ask your buyer what they require. A store supplying retail has different expectations from a neighbour.
Informal neighbourhood selling and supplying stores are different regulatory positions; do not assume yours.
Why It Is Worth the Minutes
A tray of clean, consistently sized eggs from a seller who dates their stock and never sends a cracked one is a different product from a mixed bag — and it is the same eggs.
Buyers reward reliability and predictability above almost everything, and sorting is the cheapest way to demonstrate both. See selling eggs in the Philippines for the wider commercial picture.
The Honest Limits Here
That commercial egg grading sorts by weight and by shell, cleanliness and interior quality, and that candling reveals cracks, air cell size and internal abnormalities, is standard practice. This guide states no weight ranges, no size class names and no regulatory requirements, because classification standards and the requirements applying to a given seller depend on scale and channel — confirm with your buyer and your municipal or city agriculture office. Eggs from birds within a medication withdrawal period must not be sold.
Related: selling eggs in the Philippines, how to store chicken eggs, pullet eggs, egg prices in the Philippines.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is egg grading?
Sorting eggs by size and by quality — shell condition, cleanliness and interior quality — so that what is sold is consistent and what should not be sold is removed.
Do backyard sellers need to grade eggs?
Formal grading is a commercial process, and simple sorting by size and rejecting damaged eggs is worth doing at any scale because buyers pay for consistency.
How is egg size determined?
By weight in commercial grading. A backyard seller can sort by weight with a kitchen scale or, less precisely, by eye into consistent groups.
What eggs should never be sold?
Cracked eggs, eggs with damaged or very thin shells, dirty eggs that would need washing, and anything that smells or looks wrong when candled or cracked.
What does candling show?
Held against a light, candling reveals cracks, the size of the air cell, and abnormalities inside the egg. It is the same technique used to check fertility during incubation.
Why do egg sizes vary so much in a backyard flock?
Hen age is the main reason — young hens lay small eggs and size increases as they mature and age. Mixed-age flocks naturally produce mixed sizes.
Are there official Philippine egg grading standards?
Commercial egg grading and classification is governed by standards and by the requirements of the buyers you sell into. Ask your municipal or city agriculture office what applies at your scale.