Question:
One of the students in my summer school class has brought
in an egg that he found in his chicken house.
This egg looks like a chicken egg only it is really small. It measures 1
1/2 centimeters by 1 1/2 centimeters.
It is light tan. He said that there were no other nests in the rafters. Is
it possible for a chicken to
lay this size of egg? If you can will you please give us some information
of where to look if it is not possible
for it to be a chicken egg.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Jenny Petty and her Summer school class
Replies:
About a year ago someone asked Newton BBS a question about the shape of
eggs. I am in the final stages of preparing a paper on the analytical
representation of "egg shapes". It turns out no one has ever bothered to do
this. Even today, in most references about the geometry of "egg shapes" one
finds statements such as, "An oval that is more pointed at one end and more
blunt at the other." Not very useful.
My point is, I have researched the subject of "eggs" in general this last
year. The definitive text on bird (avian) eggs is: "The Avian Egg" by A. L.
Romanoff and A. J. Romanoff, published by John Wiley. It is out of print but
is available on inter-library loan.
Despite the fact that it was published in the late '50s or early '60s, it is
still widely cited in papers almost 50 years later.
Vince Calder
Dear Jenny:
Check with your County Agricultural Extension Agent. They are there
partly to answer just this kind of question from the public.
NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.
