Most hens lay their eggs in the morning, after a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast of scratch grains. It’s a reliable clock, ticking along with the sunrise. The entire process, from start to finish, takes about 24 to 26 hours per egg.
That means a hen is essentially an egg factory on a tight schedule, and she rarely takes a day off. Fun fact: a hen needs about 14 hours of daylight to keep her laying engine humming. In winter, many backyard chickens slow down dramatically—so don’t panic if your coop goes quiet.
What’s Actually Happening Inside?
Think of it as a biological assembly line with zero room for error. It starts in the ovary, where a yolk is released—this is called ovulation, just like in humans. The yolk then travels through the oviduct, picking up layers of egg white, membranes, and finally the shell over the next 20 hours.
The shell itself is made mostly of calcium carbonate, which is why laying hens scarf down oyster shells like gourmet candy. If a hen gets stressed or startled mid-process, she might lay a soft-shelled egg or a double-yolker. Both are harmless, but double yolks are basically the bonus track of the breakfast world.
