Welcome back to the blog! Although I have essentially wrapped up my series on raising chickens, there are still some important topics that I was unable to incorporate into my previous entries. Now, here I am in an attempt to wrap things up once and for all! I say that despite having a feeling that this is not the end of our chicken journey. I would not be the least bit surprised if that were to be the case.
On one of my previous blog posts, I received a comment regarding egg laying and harvesting, so I guess that I should dedicate this post to writing about just that! Shown on the right is an anatomical model of a chicken. As I have previously mentioned, chickens only have one vent through which all material that exits their body must leave from. Back to the topic at hand, just as a fun fact, laying the egg does not take a long time, but forming the egg does. It first begins as a yolk, and as it travels through the hen, a shell begins to form around it.
Displayed on the right is a graphic with various different possible colors of egg and each of their most common breeds of chicken, respectively. Chicken eggs come in all sorts of sizes and colors, contrary to what is displayed in almost all supermarket refrigerators. The egg laying process begins when the hen is 18 weeks old, and each breed of chicken has its own idiosyncrasies (as I will mention soon). Generally speaking, when a hen feels the need to lay an egg, she will find a comfortable location, sit for a period of time, and then leave. It’s that simple. Depending on the breed, however, the level of egg quality and production will differ. Furthermore, some breeds are particularly broody regardless of whether or not the eggs are fertilized. This means that you will have to put some effort into harvesting the eggs as you awkwardly reach under the guarding “mother” to harvest the egg(s).
Once laid, the eggs should be ready to be eaten. When I say eaten, I mean by humans. It is important that the chickens do not somehow eat their own eggs because this could develop into a habit of theirs. Do not worry. Most of the time, chickens will not instinctively try to eat their own eggs. Additionally, the first couple of eggs that a hen lays may be lacking a tough outer shell. This could be caused simply by a lack of calcium and tends not to be an issue following the first occurrence. Chickens are social animals and value their privacy! Although it may be tempting to check on the hen, I once did so and unintentionally spooked her, causing her to stop laying the egg altogether. I could feel a judging aura emanating from that exact hen for the rest of the day. That definitely sounded less creepy in my head, but the point remains – do not peek on your hen if you wish to have a productive season! It is the equivalent of peeking into a bathroom stall in use! Besides, the process looks painful and disgusting (just search for it on YouTube). What I always found interesting is that certain chickens would “claim” certain egg-laying stalls for themselves. They would not fight over available spots, but there would always be a preferred location to lay eggs among the flock as a whole. In terms of productivity, I assume that egg production and egg quality will both begin to decline as some point after a certain age during the hen’s lifespan.
Finally, hens will almost always sing what is commonly referred to as the hen’s “egg laying song” (heard here). It’s generally unclear to me as to why this behavior exists, but I like to think that the hen is somewhat proud of her achievement. Who can blame her? It’s like being forced to give birth, but every day. I can only imagine what it would have been like if I was birthed and the first thing I ever heard in life was “BOCK BAWK BAGAWCK” for several minutes without pause. Actually, those are chicken sounds, and for those wondering, yes, it does get old quickly. Anyway, what sound would a human make if they behaved in such a way? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, and I will be happy to read them.
As always, thanks for reading! Stay safe and join me next time for the next post in the “extra” series!
Daniel! Thank you for talking about the egg laying process, as this is something I had been interested in previously. My friends in CT own some hens and I had always been there when they were harvesting the eggs, but never knew what happened behind the scenes. I think you did a very good job of explaining it in a way that is easy for the average chicken lover to understand, well done! I will have to say though it is a bittersweet moment if this is the last addition to the chicken series. 🙁
Hi Liam. Glad that you liked the post and series! Don’t worry, the “extra” series still has two more planned blog posts in it, so stay tuned for those!!
Hi Daniel!
What a humorous post! I enjoyed learning about the egg laying process. Have you tried different colored chicken eggs? Are there any differences in taste for the different colors or does taste depend on something like what kind of chicken is laying the egg or what the chicken is being fed? When talking about not letting chickens eat their eggs, are you saying that they could develop a taste for the egg? Would they eat a fertilized egg or just an unfertilized egg? So many questions! Anyways, great post as always, Daniel!
Hi Nandini. I have had pink, brown, and white eggs, and I think that chicken eggs only taste different if they are prepared differently, obviously. With beef, I know that the feed for the cow can affect both the quality, safety, and taste of the meat, but I am not sure about chicken eggs. If anything, it would likely be the first two. My guess would be that as long as it is a chicken egg, it would taste the same because in terms of the molecular structure, it seems to me that only the pigmentation on the outside of the egg/shell serves as a difference and gives off the color. I may be wrong and I may have to do some further research on this one.
Yes, the chickens could develop a taste for their own eggs if they accidentally just so happen to poke into it and taste the yolk. I don’t know why. I think that fertilized and unfertilized eggs would both taste the same to them, so there would be no difference in behavior.