laying the eggs

Question
Dear Mr. Meatyard,
It's me again! This time I wanna ask about how long it takes for a hen to lay a single egg. What I mean is does she sit in there all day laying her egg or does it take hours.

Thank You!
  Love,
 Mariya

Answer
Hi again, Mariya.

Call me Chrys, Mariya (I'm a woman)!  Let me explain the egg laying process.

Once a pair of birds mate, and fertilization of the zyote (I think it's called a zyote) occurs, the fertilized zyote/egg/embryo travels down the reproductive path of the female gaining all the different parts needed for the inside of the egg (it takes about 10 days after mating though for the first egg to be laid).  The egg shell itself is the last thing that is produced just before the egg is laid.  Once the egg shell itself is produced, the egg is soon laid.  The female does not keep the egg inside her body for any length of time once the egg shell is produced.  The actual laying of the egg itself doesn't take much time (seconds to minutes, depending on size of the egg), but it takes somewhere between 24-48 hours for the fertilized embryo to travel the full length of the reproductive tract and for the egg shell to develop.  

Does this answer your question?

Chrys