• Question: A hen lays an egg every day. Where does it get the calcium required to make the eggshell?

    Asked by khughes08 to Hermine, Katy, Laura, Nathalie, Paula on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Nathalie Pettorelli

      Nathalie Pettorelli answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Hi there,

      The calcium originally comes from what it eats – the hen then stores calcium in various organs, but draws calcium mainly from its bones when manufacturing an egg. Hope that helps 😉

    • Photo: Laura Dixon

      Laura Dixon answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Hens actually use the calcium from their bones to make egg shells. During lay, hens need a higher Calcium diet to supplement the Ca from their bones and hens nearing the end of lay have very brittle bones (low Ca) and are prone to bone breakages.

    • Photo: Paula Salgado

      Paula Salgado answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Well, Laura might be able to give you a better answer than I can! 😉

      From my quick searches on the subject, hens can store the calcium they get in the diet and then use it as they need it when laying eggs. For hens used in farming that most lay an egg everyday, the farmer has to supplement their diet with calcium.

    • Photo: Hermine Schnetler

      Hermine Schnetler answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Well the hen will get the calcium from the food it eats, the feed is usually dictated by the farmer and nowadays most places will feed eggshells to the hens, this calcium is then converted in the hen create an eggshell that is held together through a protein structure.

    • Photo: Katy Mee

      Katy Mee answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Since laura loves the chickens i’m sure she’ll be able to answer this one but i think it’s something to do with dairy lea…..

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