Chickens Lay Eggs Daily, But Does Incubating Mean They Will Hatch?
When eating chicken eggs, have you ever wondered if you are… causing harm? After all, the egg you consume could hatch into a chick if incubated, right?
This is likely a concern that many of us had as children. If you ask ten people, at least six or seven will confess to having “borrowed” a freshly bought egg and tucked it into their blanket, hoping to own an adorable chick.
However, the egg didn’t hatch; it just broke (because it was squished), leaving the mother to clean both the blanket and mattress, while you received a few swats on the backside.
Imagination vs. Reality…
If you think hatching like that will work, you are mistaken, because only the body heat of a hen can incubate the eggs, or you would need an artificial incubation system. But is it true that if you incubate them, those eggs will hatch?
Unfortunately, you are wrong.
The truth is: Chickens can lay eggs every day, but not all eggs will hatch.
Chickens can lay eggs daily, even without a rooster, as this is their natural behavior. Chickens typically lay enough eggs to fill a nest—about 12 eggs, or a dozen. If we keep collecting the eggs, they will continue to lay daily until their ovaries run out.
Chickens lay eggs daily without needing a partner
It’s important to note that not all chickens lay eggs every day. Depending on the breed, chickens may lay every other day or even once a week. However, for industrial hens, the usual rate is one egg per day.
Additionally, the mood of the hen can also affect egg production. If the living conditions of the chickens are of poor quality, they may stop laying eggs altogether.
Moreover, eggs laid without a rooster will not hatch. This is because these eggs are unfertilized.
Conditions for Chicken Eggs to Hatch
Inside a hen’s body, when the time comes, the yolk is wrapped in a layer of albumin—which is the egg white. The egg then moves into the oviduct, where the shell membrane forms, and after a few hours, a complete egg is ready to be laid.
For Chicken Eggs to Hatch, They Must Have Embryos…
Thanks to this process, eggs can form every day, but these eggs cannot hatch unless they are fertilized by a rooster.
In this case, the rooster’s sperm will first reach the egg yolk to form an embryo. The embryo will then be wrapped in albumin and a calcium shell, just like a normal egg.
Interestingly, hens can store sperm from roosters for several days. Each time they “wish” to lay eggs, hens will release some sperm into the yolk.
Even if they dislike a specific rooster, hens can completely expel that sperm and seek out a different, “taller and darker” rooster.
Hens Incubating Eggs
After mating, the rooster’s sperm can survive in the hen’s body for over ten days, and hens continue to ovulate to produce multiple clutches. This allows the eggs to come into contact with the sperm.
From this perspective, the breeding strategy of chickens is truly “numbers game”; only when there are enough stable germ cells do they have a chance for the eggs to be fertilized, which is why chickens lay eggs daily.
