What's the techical term for when a bird lays an egg?

Interrobang · November 23, 2002, 12:41am

To clarify what I mean by the OP:

Ovulation describes the release of an egg from an ovary.

Defecation describes the expulsion of feces from the body. (Someone at work tried to argue that defecation would apply to egg laying, but was shot down when a dictionary specified the anus as the orifice of release.)

What word describes the release of an egg from a bird’s body?

Heck, maybe “laying an egg” is the technical term.

Qadgop_the_Mercotan · November 23, 2002, 2:45am

Well the egg is released thru the cloaca, which serves as the oriface for both feces and egg release in avians. Birds lack a true vagina.

dwyr · November 23, 2002, 3:07am

oviposit ?

Qadgop_the_Mercotan · November 23, 2002, 3:12am

But birds lack the ovipositor, dwyr. The term just screams the presence of said organ.

dwyr · November 23, 2002, 3:18am

Hmm. Oviposit seems to be used more often in relation to insects and reptiles. I’ve only found one site so far that calls hens laying eggs oviposition.

dwyr · November 23, 2002, 3:20am

So basically I’ve been useless.

Qadgop_the_Mercotan · November 23, 2002, 3:21am

eh, you managed to help me raise my post count.

On second thought, that’s pretty useless too.

astro · November 23, 2002, 3:30am

Carcass Traits, Ovarian Morphology and Egg Laying Characteristics in Early Versus Late Maturing Strains of Commercial Egg-Type Hens

oviposition

ABSTRACT Three hundred commercial Single Comb While Leghorn (SCWL) pullets of two strains differing in age at first oviposition (early maturing = EARLY; later maturing = LATE) were reared and photostimulated at 18 wk. Selected birds of each strain were killed at weekly intervals from 17 to 23 wk, at sexual maturity, or at 68 wk of age for the study of carcass and reproductive organ traits. Egg production was recorded for surviving hens to 68 wk of age. The two strains differed in age at sexual maturity (EARLY, 137.5 d; LATE, 142.1 d). The EARLY strain birds appeared to allocate a greater proportion of nutrients to reproductive development (oviduct) from 19 to 22 wk of age than did the LATE group, which showed greater breast muscle development during this same period. The LATE strain hens were significantly heavier than the EARLY hens at sexual maturity, and this difference in BW persisted to the end of the laying period. Although total egg production did not differ between strains, the LATE strain hens had a longer prime egglaying sequence length (LATE, 70.2 d; EARLY, 52.6 d) as well as a longer mean sequence length (LATE, 12.8 d; EARLY, 8.7 d). Egg weight did not differ between strains. These data suggest that LATE lines of egg-type hens offer equivalent production efficiency due to improved rates
of lay, albeit starting later.

Colibri · November 23, 2002, 6:30pm

Ovoposition is technically correct for birds as well as reptiles, amphibians, insects, and anything else that lays eggs. However, in the case of birds it’s rarely used. Even ornithologists just say egg laying, or sometimes egg deposition.