Friday, July 31, 2009

How does a Chicken produce a hard shell for a egg? Where does the shell come from?

Wikpedia told me its something to do witht the shell gland? But how does it form that same looking shell each and every time?
Answers:
It is calcium that makes the shell that covers the membrane inside during fertilization, and then when the egg is laid, it is sort of a silly putty consistency as it travels down the laying canal and as it is released from the vent and hits air, the shell begins to harden.
THAT IS THE MOST STUPID QUESTION I HAVE EVER HEARD.
it's a build up of calcium
The outer layer of an egg is soft as wool for the first few seconds of laying, it becomes a hard shell afterward.
what a brill question how da hell they do that must be magic
initially,the egg is encased in the shell membrane.
as the egg develops the membrane is gradually encrusted with calcium.The calcium is synthesised within the birds system. etc etc.
. by the way,as a little boy,living on a farm, I was told to feed them hot water and you would get boiled eggs.
The Yolk: The chicken egg starts as an egg yolk inside a hen. A yolk (called an oocyte at this point) is produced by the hen's ovary in a process called ovulation.

Fertilization: The yolk is released into the oviduct (a long, spiraling tube in the hen's reproductive system), where it can be fertilized internally (inside the hen) by a sperm.

The Egg White (albumin): The yolk continues down the oviduct (whether or not it is fertilized) and is covered with a membrane (called the vitelline membrane), structural fibers, and layers of albumin (the egg white). This part of the oviduct is called the magnus.

The Chalazae: As the egg goes down through the oviduct, it is continually rotating within the spiraling tube. This movement twists the structural fibers (called the chalazae), which form rope-like strands that anchor the yolk in the thick egg white. There are two chalazae anchoring each yolk, on opposite ends of the egg.

The Eggshell: The eggshell is deposited around the egg in the lower part of the oviduct of the hen, just before it is laid. The shell is made of calcite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate.

This entire trip through the oviduct takes about one day.

During development the egg passes through a tubular structure called the oviduct. The various layers form around the yolk as it goes. The yolk is sperical but the oviduct is a tube. Hence as the develops the sphere is squashed into an egg-shaped mass. The shell gland then secretes calcium carbonate around the mass to form the egg.
here is a good explanation

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