The hen approaches the nest in a very hesitant way, and finally enters. There she sits quiet for a long time, often for half an hour or more. She closes an eye or calmly puts a straw on her back, but finally she gets more exited. Now and then, the hen raises her tail and spreads the feathers of her bottom. These movements increase gradually. 2. Under her tail, between the feathers, is a small opening in the form of a horizontal slit, about an inch wide. It is surrounded by a ribbed rim, with skin and feathers further outside. It is called the vent. 3. Suddenly the hen stands up with her feet wide apart, tail raised, bottom feathers spread out, and back feathers upright. As her vent opens a little, you begin to see a red membrane. 4. As the hen lowers her bottom, her vent widens rapidly and the rim is stretched further. The membrane forms a pinkish dome around the egg which is not yet visible at this stage. 5. The vent is now wide open and the ribbed rim has become narrow and far stretched. Through the opening bulges a pink hemisphere of tissue revealing distinct blood vessels. Its top is pointed downward where a new opening arises. The egg appears as a much lighter-colored disk. Even brown eggs are much lighter than the surrounding membrane. 6. The hen strains at intervals. Each time, the egg comes a little further out. As it does, the membrane opens to form a red collar around the wider, middle portion of the egg. The membrane will protrude a little ways from the ribbed rim. 7. The moist egg pops out. Sometimes it will come out blunt end first, sometimes pointed end first. For a few seconds after the egg is laid, a small red cone still remains outside, but it is retracted almost immediately and the vent is closed again. The bird stands high above the egg and rests, beak open and panting after the heavy work. The entire process (from rising to dropping the egg) is quite fast and is finished within half a minute. Therefore, it is hard to observe. After a while, the hen looks back, inspects the egg with her beak and leaves the nest under loud cackles. The hen then eats and drinks and goes her usual ways. She seems to have forgotten her egg completely. The Hen's Perspective on Laying Eggs (Wieckmann, 1896; Grzimek, 1964): 1. Chickens, as well as other birds, have a common opening for reproduction, and for the evacuation of stools and urine. This opening is called the "vent". They do not have a bladder because their urine is not a fluid. It is a white paste, called urates, that you can observe surrounding the droppings. The intestine, ureters and oviduct come together into a common chamber called the cloaca. This is a rather dirty place, whereas the egg is always clean and almost sterile when laid.  2. The hen turns part of the cloaca and the last segment of the oviduct inside out, "like a glove." The described red membrane is then everted inside of these organs. The egg emerges far outside, at the end of the bulge. So it cannot contact the walls of the cloaca and get contaminated by stools or urine. Moreover, the intestine and inner part of the cloaca are kept shut by the emerging egg, and their contents cannot leave when the hen strains to deliver the egg. Therefore, eggs are always clean as they are laid. However, sometimes a hen, stomping around the nest with dirty feet, will get the egg dirty anyway.