I would like some advice on chickens and eggs. I have 7 chickens (1 cockrel) and want to know more about them. I want to know what exactly an egg is?

-- Sylvia Mottram (sylvia_mottram@yahoo.com), February 25, 2002

Answers

whats an egg?, all critters have eggs,, either internal,, or external,, humans, bugs, animals,, fish,,, chickens just have external eggs,, and if there was a male chicken around (rooster) you could end up with baby chickens. It you need more info,, ask your mom or dad

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 25, 2002.

There's a site listed on my Favorite Links page (http://cstylehomestead.tripod.com/favlinks.htm) that tells all about chickens. The website URL is:

http://geocities.com/KelliAnn293/

Hope you find what you are looking for there!

-- Phil in KS (pemccoy@yahoo.com), February 25, 2002.

From the web site How Stuff Works, http://www.howstuffworks.com/question231.htm, found this on egg shell formation:

It turns out the chicken has little to do with the formation of an egg's shell -- the egg actually grows the shell around itself! It does this using processes that are also seen in bones and seashells. Around the egg is a membrane, and evenly spaced on the membrane are points where columns of calcite (a form of calcium carbonate) form. These columns stack together side-by-side to form the shell. According to an incredibly interesting book called Made to Measure by Philip Ball:

The nucleation points are defined protein nodules called mammillary protrusions, and the mineral is first deposited as particles of aragonite with random orientation of the crystal planes. On top of these aragonite piles, columns of oriented crystalline calcite begin to grow upward.

The calcite is basically floating in solution around the shell and deposits on the shell like a forming crystal. The egg grows its own shell!

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), February 25, 2002.

Click Here For The Answer

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), February 25, 2002.

Rogo...I always look forward to your answers and links. They're so informative!! Thanx! (from someone who has had poultry for over 20 yrs, but always learns new answers).

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), February 25, 2002.

Thanks, Marcia. I've got a good search engine and some neat sites marked! We're always learning. It's too bad we'll never live long enough to know it all!

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), February 25, 2002.

Rogo- like Marcia I have had birds for 30 years (exotic bantam) and I do enjoy your answers. You just keep doing what you are doing. Thank you for making this site a good place to come to.

-- Bonnie Norris (queqid@att.net), February 27, 2002.

http://treybig.org/chicken.htm

This tells you why a chicken will cross your road.

-- hrwoodred (wwgardd@aol.com), February 27, 2002.