Egg laying

[rekstout]

Can anyone explain why chickens lay unfertilised eggs daily when - to the best of my knowledge - no other bird does - it would seems a complete waste of time and resources (from the chicken's perspective)

If, as I suspect, this is a result of mankind selectively breeding chickens to achieve this rate of egg laying then can anyone elucidate as to when and how? Many Thanks

[firefly]

Why do you think the chicken is totally innocent in this matter? There probably was a period of evolution when chickens became daily layers but it was it their best interest to do so-domestication relied on the fact. However the way chickens are treated now, well some of them, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea.

[rekstout]

Thanks for the comments firefly, I just find it hard to believe that any animal would waste all that energy laying a useless egg. I could understand it if - like some fish - the eggs were fertilised ex-utero by a passing male but this is not the case with chickens. If it were such an evolutionary advantage then why do no other birds do this?

PS AB Editor - I accidentally posted this in Arts and Lit when I though I was in Animals and Nature - please feel free to relocate.

[5029]

Other birds do lay. Have you ever eaten quails eggs?

[rekstout]

OK, I concede to quails eggs, but I must say that I though that they were fertilised eggs - do they lay unfertilised eggs on a daily basis?

My point is that if laying an unfertilised egg on a daily basis were such an evolutionary advantage then we should be seeing eggs all over the place which is not the case.

[Cathy]

I might have made some mistakes here, so I'm prepared to be corrected if anyone knows better. I don't know about larger concerns or battery farming, but some of the eggs ARE fertilised. This is why a cockerel is kept with them (and also why I always pick out anything floating in an egg). However, when the hens are laying eggs, they always lay the same number of eggs (five I think). When you collect the eggs, you leave one behind, so the hen then lays more to replace the ones you've taken. As they get old they stop laying, which tends to be when they go to the big hen house in the sky.

[MrPooHead]

I like eggs as much as the next man, but I can't trust and animal that menstruates wildly, out of it's *rse. I mean, Christ, I think someone fell asleep in their cornflakes over the blueprints for that one.

[wildwood]

The removing of eggs to fool the chicken into laying more may have been realised thousands of years ago when it was first domesticated, but selective breeding since then has produced an animal that will now lay eggs without breeding stimuli. There is absolutely no advantage to the chicken in this partnership with Man, other than that it lives a bit longer than the ones reared solely for meat. All chicken breeds are man-made and can all be traced back to their wild ancestor - the jungle fowl Gallus gallus. Some duck breeds are also kept mainly for their egg production.
This utilisation is really no different to the cows and goats who will produce milk almost continuously.

[Gef]

If MrPooHead really tinks that animals menstruate out of their a**ses then he has a problem. Go away!!!