Egg Production
Most of the eggs we eat
come from chickens.
Parts of an Egg
Hens are female
Chalazae is the
twisted white
protein that holds
yolk in place
chickens. Hens lay
eggs. It’s an all
day event for a
chicken to make
an egg and lay it.
1. The hen is hatched
with many tiny yolks in her body. One
at a time, these will grow to full size.
Shell
Membranes
Yolk
2. When a yolk comes to full size, it is
released into a long tube called an
oviduct. This release takes about 14
On average, a hen lays five eggs
each week.
On average, a person eats five
eggs each week.
Air Cell
Shell
FACT:
A hen lays an
egg every
26-28 hours.
minutes.
3. As the yolk moves, a thick white
layer of albumen also known as the
Thick Albumen
egg white, is placed around it. This
takes about 3 hours.
4. The next stage takes about 1 hour and
15 minutes. Water is added to the
Thin Albumen
albumen to form a thin layer of white.
5. The formation of the egg shell is the
last and longest step. This step can
take as long as 20 hours. Pigment is
added to the shell at the very end of
this step making the egg shell white,
cream or brown depending on the
breed of the hen.
6. The hen lays the egg and the process
Alphabetize the parts of an egg:
air cell
Germinal Disk
Vitelline Membrane is
a clear seal that
surrounds the yolk
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starts again.
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