# Which came first, the chicken or the egg? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 1999, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514 "1999-04-29T12:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 1999, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/1 "1999-04-29T12:43:00Z")
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? And why? (I have a feeling this will spur a creation/evolution debate). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 1999, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/2 "1999-04-29T13:05:00Z")
Cecil answered that question in ‘More of the Straight Dope’… I quote him directly. > [@](#): > > There are two answers to this question, P., one serious, one retarded. Let’s start with the former. > > (1) The egg came first. We know that chickens evolved from some earlier, non-chickenoid form of life, e.g., the half-bird, half-reptile Archaeopteryx. These non-chickens, however, arrived in eggs. Ergo, eggs were on the scene before chickens. > > (2) The chicken came first because (sigh) the chicken had to get laid before the egg could. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 1999, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/3 "1999-04-29T14:24:00Z")
Cecil and Evolution to the rescue again! Thanks Elijah. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 1999, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/4 "1999-04-29T14:49:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It was undoubtably the rooster. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 1999, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/5 "1999-04-29T15:47:00Z")
Boy, I bet it’s been answered on the net before hundreds of times in hundreds of ways. But the real answer is easy. The chicken came first because the egg is a presumptuous chicken, and the real comes before the presumptuous. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 1999, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/6 "1999-04-29T15:51:00Z")
PS: We also don’t need another creation/evolution debate. There are thousands of messages on this already. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 1999, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/7 "1999-04-29T16:12:00Z")
Reminds me of a joke: A chicken and an egg are relaxing after sex. The egg is smoking a cigarette and says with a pissed off look, “Well, I guess we know the answer to **that** question!” 🙂 * * * whammy. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 1999, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/8 "1999-04-29T18:57:00Z")
Huh? How can a chicken and egg have sex together? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 1999, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/9 "1999-04-29T19:11:00Z")
Sheeesh, George. I’m constantly surprised by how anal retentive some people’s sense of humor is. Even if you insist on jokes being rational, it would still be funny if you employed a little imagination. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 1999, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/10 "1999-05-05T18:32:00Z")
PapaBear, don’t call me anal retentive. If you want to flame people, do it in the BBQ pit, not in the GQ forum. I don’t insist on rational jokes and have a good imagination. I enjoyed Whammy’s joke, even though the situation didn’t quite seem feasible. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 1999, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/11 "1999-05-05T18:52:00Z")
Georgie, georgie… I’ve enjoyed interacting with ya before, but… You let this thread sit for a week and then you come back bitching about a possible flame from Papa? Sheesh! Though you may not be a troll, this thread topic is definitely “troll-worthy” in that it is offered merely as a tool for you to “come back” at respondants. Picking at humorous posts in a thread you created, addressing a subject already put to bed by Cecil (he _is_ the final authority, and not accepting that is, in itself, a troll-like trait) is also symptomatic of trolls. Caution is advised, my friend. “Troll” is not a label you want attached to your sig. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 1999, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/12 "1999-08-12T07:46:00Z")
The egg came first. An egg is defined by what is in it. NOT by what laid it or what it came out of. For example a mule is born from a Mule egg. But it is the product of a horse and donkey. Neither is a MULE. ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 1999, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/13 "1999-08-12T08:40:00Z")
That’s obviously a _cross_ product, not a _dot_ product, right? What’s gone on here is enough to scare the horses. Mules weren’t in the question. Mules come from the footwear department. Ray ---
**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 1999, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/14 "1999-08-12T12:55:00Z")
I prefer mine scrambled. * * * ¾È ³ç, ÁÖ µ¿ ÀÏ ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 1999, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/15 "1999-08-12T15:51:00Z")
Just to elaborate on Markxxx’s answer: Imagine there are no chickens and as a result, no chicken eggs. However, we do have some proto-chicken wandering about, the foremother of what shall become the chicken. Said proto-chicken gets knocked up, and the while the egg is in creation, it undergoes a few mutations and comes out something that will eventually hatch into the first chicken. So, it is a chicken egg. Now granted, this is rather simplified, but I’d have to say that the egg came first. * * * “I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 1999, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/16 "1999-08-13T20:15:00Z")
Doesn’t an egg require incubation in order to hatch? If there weren’t any chickens around, the egg wouldn’t have had much of a chance of hatching. This of course assuming that the egg didn’t magicly appear next to some other constant heat-source that was approximately the same temperature as a chicken. BTW, what’s up with those brown eggs? Are there any differences in the egg or is it just a different color shell? Anybody else besides me just to fraidy-cat to try them? (I hardly thought this question was worthy of its own forum, and figured this one could use a little pick-me-up anyway) ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 1999, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/17 "1999-08-13T20:31:00Z")
A chicken is an egg’s way of making another egg. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 1999, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/18 "1999-08-13T20:44:00Z")
> [@](#): > > BTW, what’s up with those brown eggs? Are there any differences in the egg or is it just a different color shell? Anybody else besides me just to fraidy-cat to try them? What the heck, eat a brown shelled egg, take a walk on the wild side! IIRC (been a while since I been on the farm), eggshell color is determined by what hens are fed. The particular breed of the chicken may have something to do with it as well. There’s no difference, nutritional or otherwise, between white and brown hen’s eggs – except that brown eggs tend to be more expensive. Some people believe that brown eggs are “organic” or healthier and thus are suckered into paying higher prices for the same henfruit. your humble TubaDiva Today a brown egg . . . tomorrow . . . who knows? We’re living dangerously! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 1999, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/19 "1999-08-13T20:46:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Doesn’t an egg require incubation in order to hatch? If there weren’t any chickens > around, the egg wouldn’t have had much of a chance of hatching Don’t be silly, of course it would. Our proto-chicken would sit on it. Heck, different birds incubate different eggs all the time. If it had to be Bird A sitting on Bird A’s egg, then the cowbird would of died out long ago. * * * “I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 1999, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514/20 "1999-08-13T22:50:00Z")
Shell color depends more on breed than anything else,though pigments in the feed do influence the shade. So the yolks on you tuba.The feed definatly influences the yolk.there is nothing quite so bright and yellow as a free range chicken’s yolk. Which came first? On earth? The lesser god remoth stole an egg from the great god Meersham. in attempting to escape remoth dropped the egg,it fell through space hitting the moon. the egg broke and spewed forth upon the Earth all the plants and creatures that dwell there. Thought Id register in for the creationists. " A chicken and an egg are relaxing after having sex." What a foul, disgusting mind you have ,Whammy. There is a thread about incest for people like you! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/10514.md?page=2)