Did you know that eggs are capsules that protect life?

Eggs are born from chickens and chickens are born from eggs! If a chicken doesn’t come into the world from an egg, the egg will disappear. However, a new life moves inside the egg, which protects the offspring. Let’s explore the egg’s secret! 

Is an egg a living thing? Is an egg made of a hard eggshell from the very beginning? You know that hens lay eggs, don’t you? First, let’s see how an egg is made. From the outer side, an egg is made of a hard eggshell, thin eggshell membrane, transparent egg white and egg yolk. Chalaza is the membranous strip made from the thickened egg white. It joins the yolk to the two ends of the shell. The proportion of eggshell, eggshell membrane, egg white and egg yolk is about 1:6:3. In the hen’s body, there is an organ called the ovary. There is a fallopian tube from the ovary. In the ovary, there are many egg yolks (eggs). We can observe almost 2500 egg yolks with the naked eye and 10,000 egg yolks with a microscope. As the egg yolk absorbs nutrients and grows bigger, it enters the fallopian tube. While it passes through the fallopian tube, it is covered with the egg white and the eggshell membrane is put on.  The tube through which the egg passes is called the fallopian tube. 

The egg yolk with the egg white goes through the fallopian tube. It gets the eggshell very close to the exit. This is how a whole egg comes out from the outer end of the fallopian tube. The egg is made in the fallopian tube. So, does it mean eggs are living things? It means the egg yolk is a living thing. You do know that if you warm up an egg, it hatches, don’t you? If you look at the yolk carefully, you can see the white matter on the egg yolk. This part hatches and is called the embryo (blastodisc). It is also called “latebra”. The sperm egg can hatch into chickens, and the infertile eggs, which we buy, generally can’t hatch. When an egg is born, the hen sits on it and warms, it up with its body temperature. When it gets warm, the embryo starts to move. Then primitive streaks and nerves appear in the embryo. Later, organs like the brain, heart, eyes, and ears are formed. The primitive streak is the source of body organs. 

At the same time, a bundle of many blood vessels begins to grow in the egg yolk. In this phase, the embryo needs many nutrients. also, as the embryo grows, it starts to need oxygen. So, the numerous blood vessels help to absorb nutrients from the egg yolk and the egg white. Oxygen is transported to the embryo via the eggshell. So, how does an egg breathe through the hard eggshell? There are many secrets in the eggshell. First, let’s look at the structure of an eggshell. The main components are water, protein, fat and inorganic matter. Most parts of the eggshell are made of inorganic matter, primarily calcium carbonate. The hard eggshell protects the inside of the egg.

I give you an idea of its strength…it can bear about 3.5kg of force in the longitudinal direction. The hard eggshell protects its inside. If it’s too hard it would be a problem for the chicken when the egg hatches. The eggshell protects the egg till the time it hatches. Coming to how an egg can breathe despite being covered by a hard eggshell, this is possible because the surface of an eggshell has tiny invisible holes. The small holes in an eggshell are called breathing pores. There are 7000-17000 breathing pores in an egg. The breathing pores take in the required oxygen and emit the carbon dioxide generated inside. In short, the gases are exchanged through the eggshell. In addition, the pores also adjust the quantity of water inside. But the pores on the surface can allow germs to go in. the cuticle protects the egg, so there’s no problem. If you touch a newborn egg, you can feel that the surface is rough. This layer of cuticle works as a barrier and prevents microbes from entering the egg.

The eggshell, egg membrane works to protect it from bacterial invasion from outside. The inner and outer membranes doubly protect the egg. Air is stored in the air chamber between the outer and inner membranes. The embryo grows in the egg. It is protected firmly by the cuticle, eggshell and eggshell membrane. The embryo absorbs oxygen via the eggshell and takes in nutrients from the egg yolk, the embryo grows bigger day by day. Twenty-one days after the birth of an egg, the chicken breaks the eggshell with the egg tooth on its break, which is hard and pointed. With the birth of the chicken, the function of the eggshell is over. Happy Birthday to the little one! Eggs are like capsules that protect the life of eggs.