How long does it take for an egg to form?

[sweeterdeeter42]

How long does it take for a new egg to form in the ovaries from start to finish? Also, when will my eggs start getting better quality shells if I just started feeding them oyster shells?

 

[Higins00]

It takes 24 hours to make another egg. I don't use oyster shells, never had. The quality will get better in like 2-3 weeks.

 

[sweeterdeeter42]

I have never used oyster shells before either, but one of the girls lay an egg that has a really poor quality shell with the see through spots all over and with another girl's eggs, the small end keeps breaking in when she lays them.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Add oyster shell. It's cheap enough, around here about 20 cents a pound and you'll love the super hard shells.

Some hens just don't absorb it as well as others and need a little extra.

ETA: In addition, a hen that's not getting enough OS in her diet will have to rob it from her bones and other organs.

 

[sweeterdeeter42]

I added oyster shells about a week ago. Hoping they get better soon. Tired of losing the biggest eggs because they crack as they are being layed.
gritsar- Im working on cochin/turkens..... cant really think of a snappy name for those like the Trahmas. lol.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
coke'ns? I dunno. Someone else came up with the name for my mutants.

 

[gryeyes]

Chicks that hatched from eggs laid by my Silver Sebright hen proved to be fathered by a bantam Cochin, so they became "Cobrights."

And the most time-intensive part of forming an egg is the 19 hours it takes to secrete the shell, so when something goes flooey in the egg making process, it's generally going to mess with the shells.

 

[BuffaloWings]

I would look at a couple things (that at least come to my mind):

1. How old are the chickens? - very young or very old chickens can lay some interesting eggs. Young ones sometimes lay soft shelled eggs when first starting out, old ones can do the same.

2. What are you feeding them? - if you are feeding laying pellets/crumbles, theoretically it has enough calcium in it to provide good quality shells.

3. Are they eating the oyster shells? - sometimes chickens know if they need calcium or not. If they are getting plenty they may not eat any at all (in my experience). Those lacking will chow down on it.

If you added shells about a week ago, I would think you would start to see results soon. Good luck!

 

[Hrobinson]

Quote:
I wanted an answer to this question myself. So, i came to BC naturally and found that the threads go off in all directions and indeed, the replies just get to be OT immediately. I watched a video on UTUBE about how to prepare chickens. The bird had stopped laying suddenly. Once the lady had cut open the bird, there were about 8 tiny eggs in various stages of development. I recognized this because of their relative sizes one being about 3/4" and the largest about 1.5" From that video, one can surmise that it might take up to 8-10 days for an egg to fully develop. It makes sense because that calcium has to be deposited from the blood stream to the outer layer of the shell and it doesn't make a bit of sense that something like that could happen every 26 hours. -H

 

[barred-rock]

I wanted an answer to this question myself. So, i came to BC naturally and found that the threads go off in all directions and indeed, the replies just get to be OT immediately. I watched a video on UTUBE about how to prepare chickens. The bird had stopped laying suddenly. Once the lady had cut open the bird, there were about 8 tiny eggs in various stages of development. I recognized this because of their relative sizes one being about 3/4" and the largest about 1.5" From that video, one can surmise that it might take up to 8-10 days for an egg to fully develop. It makes sense because that calcium has to be deposited from the blood stream to the outer layer of the shell and it doesn't make a bit of sense that something like that could happen every 26 hours. -H

Hrobinson is correct. Chickens only have one functioning ovary and follicles, "tiny eggs/yolks," develop in a hierarchy. So at any given time, yolk is being deposited on multiple follicles. Follicles enter a phase called rapid development where yolk is deposited for 8-10 days before being laid. Eggs are not developed in 24 hours, but due to the hierarchy, chickens are able to lay eggs daily because as one egg is laid, another is reaching its final phase of development.

Follicular hierarchy