I've heard that before and wondered about it.  Do you happen to know if 
the eggs are actually destroyed in the process and replaced by new eggs, 
or somehow, the eggs are "deflated" during that time and later reflated?

answer:

Ovarioles contain eggs at various stages of developments. It is like a 
string with beads. Small beads on the top and as eggs gets closer to fully 
developed,  eggs will be near the oviduct. As the egg go through the 
overioles more nutrients will go through the permeable membranes of the 
egg chamber to form the yolk. When the eggs reabsorbed., most of the yolk 
will be lost. We used stain to check the egg chamber but every thing 
stayed intact. No loss of eggs.  The nucleus and small amount of yolk will 
be in the egg chamber surrounded with the soft chorion. 

 medhat

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