prolific egg production than for their meat.
Some birds will lay only a set number of eggs
at a time, no matter what happens to the eggs.
Others, including the chicken, will lay until
they accumulate a certain number in the nest.
If an egg is taken by a predator, the hen will
lay another to replace it — and may do so
indefinitely. Over a lifetime, these
“indeterminate layers” will produce many
more eggs than the “determinate” layers. Wild
Indian jungle fowl lay clutches of about
twelve glossy, brown eggs a few times each
year. In industrial production — the
ecological equivalent of unlimited food
resources combined with unrelenting
predation — their domesticated cousins will
lay an egg a day for a year or more.
Food Words: Egg and Yolk
Egg comes from an Indo-European root
meaning “bird.”
The brusque-sounding yolk is rich in