Egg Oddities Part 1

Yesterday we talked about having to butcher one of our laying hens that developed a really bad habit of eating eggs.  She would crack them with her beak and commence to eating eggs sunny side up.  We couldn't have any of that.  We butchered the Rhode Island Red hen.

Upon eviscerating her, removing her heart, liver, gizzard, intestines, lungs, etc. we found something interesting.  Look inside the carcass of the hen to see a plethora of tiny eggs right in the center of the photo below.

When a hen is born (just like a woman), she has every egg (ova) already inside of her.  One by one the eggs are released into the ovaduct.  A hen can lay an egg just about every day.  Each egg first develops into a yolk.  In the photo above, you can see the different stages of development.  In the photo below, you can see an ova that has developed into a yolk.  I pulled this out of the hen.  Once it develops into a yolk, the rest of the egg is formed around it and then the egg is ready to be laid.

One might say, as I originally did, that it was a shame to butcher this hen and lose out on all of the eggs that were yet to be laid.  I agree with that sentiment; however, this hen would have, over time, destroyed more eggs than she laid.  Secondly, this hen is fattened up due to all the eggs she ate and is going to make us a mighty fine gumbo.  Finally, it was a good science experiment.  We normally butcher Cornish Cross meat birds and never get an opportunity to see the inside of a mature laying hen with all the eggs.