We thought our egg washing machine was the coolest—until we found this baby on Craigslist. This is an antique Egomatic egg candling and sorting machine. We will use it to “grade” our eggs (required in New Hampshire for selling eggs through off-farm stores). The Egomatic is supposed to be a labor-saving device. But so far, it is not saving us any time. Whenever we turn it on, there are always four or five people standing around watching it work. So, there are a few kinks to work out…
Many thanks to my sister Nura and her husband Jack for driving across New Jersey to pick it up. And many thanks as well to Dan Parish for putting it back together after Steve and I took it apart to repaint it and, um, forgot to take adequate notes (doh!).
Dan Parish you rock!
Hi! I just am wondering two things. The first is that you wrote it was also a candler, but where exactly would the candling part be located. I have a vintage one, that does one egg at a time, and it has a lightbulb inside a metal box. In this video, I’m just seeing the eggs being sorted. The other question is, how do the eggs not break when rolling into each other.
Thanks!
Hi Madeleine, there is a socket for a candling bulb in the ramp where you load the eggs onto the machine. You can see it in action on this other video on youtube: http://youtu.be/gmRBQj-3QRE.
Assuming your hens have access to plenty of calcium, the eggs should be quite sturdy. If they break when they roll into each other, they were either already cracked (and therefore should be rejected) or your hens are getting very old and the shells are thin. Time to get new hens.
Omar,
Thanks for your reply. That was very helpful! I do appreciate your prompt reply! It’s been a while since I was a little girl, having been raised on a chicken farm, so I didn’t know about how hard the shell would be. I have an old candler from the farm, as well as two different scales. Memories of a good time in my life! Thanks again.
Madeleine
I had lived on a farm in central New Jersey where we had an egomatic egg grader. It was a right hand feed dual feed. Do not have any pictures of it. we also had a Keenco egg washing machine.
I am currently looking for an Egomatic for our farm. No luck in finding one yet. It’s hard finding equipment for small scale farms.