Why Do Hens...

[Jackdaw33]

..lay eggs on a regular basis, often daily, and without the aid of a rooster, whilst other species of bird only mate once a year and produce very few eggs. This has always puzzled me. Perhaps a bird keeper will explain.

[DaisyNonna]

Female virgins produce eggs regularly

[tonyav]

They only need a rooster to fertilise the eggs, Jack.

[Jackdaw33]

Yes, but most dicky birds and raptors don't lay on a daily basis. I just wonder what is different about hens and, to a lesser extent, ducks.

[tonyav]

A few answers on here, Jack.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130316143834AAAGCVI

[Mamyalynne]

We had a hen Budgie, she laid a few eggs but only ever on my husband's shoulder whilst nibbling his ear - think she was in love.

[tonyav]

Yep, she must have been, Mamya.

[Mamyalynne]

Really? Do you normally stick to the more high brow serious sites?

[anneasquith]

^^^^^was it that funny ?

[Mamyalynne]

It tickled us at the time - guess you had to be there Anne.


Still if I've made someone smile can't be all bad can it.

[Sir Alec]

My friend had a yellow budgie called Pippio, which she had always thought was male until one day 'he' laid an egg!

[Mamyalynne]

Ours (Kelly) as Yellow too - a Lutino,we knew she was a hen because of the colour of the cere on her beak.

Blue for boy budgies, brownish for girls.

[Sir Alec]

Interesting, Mamya. I didn't know that about the beak colour. We were quite young at the time. I looked after Pippio when they went on holiday once. The bit I loved the most was in the evening, when I covered the cage with a cloth and she started to make a burbling noise as if she was talking to herself. It was so sweet!

[Mamyalynne]

Divebuddy , got to love Robins though, so feisty.


SirA - they are very entertaining and fun.

[wildwood]

divebuddy has covered most of the basics already. The domestic hen is a long way from the original jungle fowl and has been selectively bred for their laying propensity, just like the modern milking cow will produce milk well outside the usual lactating period.