How Is an Egg Made?

Chickens are capable of producing eggs remarkably quickly. In the right season, and in the right environment, some chickens will be able to produce one egg every twenty-six hours. How often your own hens will lay eggs depends on their health, the season, their nutrition and their breed.

Although several eggs can be laid a week, they take many days to make

An egg begins as an ova, a very small structure which takes about a week to develop in the ovary into a full egg yolk. Once it’s mature, it enters the bird’s oviduct. As it travels along the length of this structure, albumen (egg white) is added. Once it reaches a lower region of the oviduct, it forms ‘chalaza’, two stringy structures that run from either end of the yolk to the edge of the albumen. A membrane then forms around this liquid section of the egg.

After completion of the membrane, the egg shell begins to be laid when the egg reaches the bottom section of the oviduct. This is where a lot of the calcium from your chicken’s diet is used – to make the egg shell. Although less than half a centimetre thick the shell is remarkably durable.