Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A yolkless egg is most often a pullet's first egg, produced before her laying mechanism is fully ready. In a mature hen, a yolkless egg is unlikely, but can occur if a bit of reproductive tissue breaks away, stimulating the egg-producing glands to treat it as a yolk and wrap it in albumen, membranes and a shell as it travels through the egg tube.
Because male chickens do not lay eggs and only those in breeding programmes are required to fertilise eggs, they are considered redundant to the egg-laying industry and are usually killed shortly after being sexed, which occurs just days after they are conceived or after they hatch. [3]
As is the case with chickens, various breeds have been developed, selected for egg-laying ability, fast growth, and a well-covered carcase. The most common commercial breed in the United Kingdom and the United States is the Pekin duck , which can lay 200 eggs a year and can reach a weight of 3.5 kg (7 lb 11 oz) in 44 days. [ 34 ]
Hens crave privacy and darkness when laying eggs, so plan for at least one nesting box for every four or five hens. A box that measures 14"W-by-14"H x 12"D will give even a big gal plenty of room.
Eggs of various animals (mainly birds) Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (known as laying or spawning ) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs , which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings known as hatchlings with little or no embryonic development within the ...
Depending on the mechanism involved in restoring the diploid number of chromosomes, parthenogenetic offspring may have anywhere between all and half of the mother's alleles. In some types of parthenogenesis the offspring having all of the mother's genetic material are called full clones and those having only half are called half clones. Full ...
Eggs without yolks are known as "dwarf" or "wind" eggs, [19] or the archaic term "cock egg". [20] Such an egg is most often a pullet's first effort, produced before her laying mechanism is fully ready. Mature hens rarely lay a yolkless egg, but sometimes a piece of reproductive tissue breaks away and passes down the tube.
Most chickens are raised for food, providing meat and eggs; others are kept as pets [1] or for cockfighting. Chickens are common and widespread domestic animals, with a total population of 26.5 billion as of 2023, and an annual production of more than 50 billion birds. A hen bred for laying can produce over 300 eggs per year.