What came first, the chicken or the egg ?
5440
This is actually very easy to answer, based on evolution the egg had to come first. Evolution works like this: There are slight changes in the genetic information of the sex cells (i.e. eggs and sperm) of individuals that are passed on to the offspring of any two parents. These changes in the genetic makeup are called mutations. Mutations can either have: 1) A deleterious effect on the offspring (genetic disorders may arise, many times these are lethal); 2) sometimes these mutations may be advantageous, making an individual more fit than its neighbors (this is sometimes referred to as conferring an advantage); or 3) these mutations can have no effect, making no change from parent to progeny.\n\nIn the case of the chicken, it must have evolved from something else that became less fit than the chicken and eventually becoming extinct. The chicken became a chicken from this other organism through mutations that built up over time in subsequent generations. However, whatever the genetic makeup that finally became defined as a chicken, that individual was first conceived and developed in an egg before being hatched. The egg and sperm that fused to produce the chicken didn't bypass the period of gestation within an egg that had developed in the bird family millions of years before the chicken came along.\n\nSo the simple answer to this question is the egg came first -- unless you believe in fairy tales?
15437
Which came first - the chicken or the egg? \n\n"The chicken" came first - in the sentence of the question. \n\nIf the question is phrased differently, the answer is different
1027119
The EGG... Reptiles came first, then birds, then mammals.... And reptiles LAY eggs!! Therefore the EGG came before the birds (in this case the chicken).
1186972
the egg was a mutant that turned into a chicken, so the egg came first
517841
The egg.  Dinosaurs were laying eggs far before chickens had evolved, so the egg had to've come first.  :)
288571
People will keep asking this question... (677 times and counting)\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result;_ylt=ArqSG_s0jG4ok1r1mx8sEIIjzKIX?p=chicken+or+the+egg\n\nHere's my answer, cut and paste from my answer to the same question asked the other day:\n\nThere were eggs long before chickens.\n\nDinosaurs laid eggs, for example, and birds evolved from dinosaurs.\n\nGuess what, a chicken is a bird.\n\nWhatever bird chickens evolved from laid eggs, so wherever you draw the line in the sand and say "here was the first chicken", well, that chicken had a mother who laid the egg.\n\nEggs came before chickens.
580717
this question has been asked many times, not just throughout time but also many times just here on yahoo answers.  i say "egg"... for a thorough explanation you can look up my answers.\n\ni just find it very interesting that when asked in the "pets" forum, most people say something religious to support their claim that chickens came first, and on the "science" forum, more people say "egg" and support their claim with "science has proved...."\n\nmeh, science never really proves anything... but this one just requires a little thought about the true nature of the question.  it would be a little more difficult to answer if it was "which came first, the chicken or the chicken egg?"  but no one ever asks that question, so we're all safe.  whew.  :)
69113
Just depends on what you believe in.  If you believe in Adam and Eve then you believe the hen probably came first.  The bible states that god created everything in 7 days.  \n\nIf you believe in the egg first you believe in evolution.  The egg was probably a mutated form of a dinosaur.  The creature probably didnt look much like a bird, but over millions of years the thing evolved into a chicken
451579
Between Religion and Science, i believe that the CHICKEN came first. In relation to Religion, God created all the animals, including the chicken, for a specific purpose. Reproducing another kind of them, which in chickens, they lay eggs. In Science, we all knew in the theory of evolution, that all living things came from single celled animals, but evolved to multiple-celled animals eventually. But, it doesnt mean that being a single celled animal makes you an EGG because its already an animal, only one celled. So the answer is probably the CHICKEN.
53344
Which came first - the chicken or the egg? \n\n"The chicken" came first - in the sentence of the question. \n\nIf the question is phrased differently, the answer is different.
136554
The question that has perplexed us for multiple postings.\n\nThe egg came first, The first chicken came from an egg from something that was not quite a chicken.  Please see this handy movie for more details:
427214
If you are a creationist, like me, the chicken probably came first.\nIf you believe in evolution, then by that theory the egg would have come first.
1111140
A team made up of a geneticist, philosopher and chicken farmer claim to have found an answer. It was the egg.\n\nPut simply, the reason is down to the fact that genetic material does not change during an animal's life.\n\nTherefore the first bird that evolved into what we would call a chicken, probably in prehistoric times, must have first existed as an embryo inside an egg.\n\nProfessor John Brookfield, a specialist in evolutionary genetics at the University of Nottingham, told the UK Press Association the pecking order was clear.\n\nThe living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it would develop into, he said.\n\n"Therefore, the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg," he added. "So, I would conclude that the egg came first."\n\nThe same conclusion was reached by his fellow "eggsperts" Professor David Papineau, of King's College London, and poultry farmer Charles Bourns.\n\nMr Papineau, an expert in the philosophy of science, agreed that the first chicken came from an egg and that proves there were chicken eggs before chickens.\n\nHe told PA people were mistaken if they argued that the mutant egg belonged to the "non-chicken" bird parents.\n\n"I would argue it is a chicken egg if it has a chicken in it," he said.\n\n"If a kangaroo laid an egg from which an ostrich hatched, that would surely be an ostrich egg, not a kangaroo egg."\n\nBourns, chairman of trade body Great British Chicken, said he was also firmly in the pro-egg camp.\n\nHe said: "Eggs were around long before the first chicken arrived. Of course, they may not have been chicken eggs as we see them today, but they were eggs."
770895
The chick is hatched before it becomes a hen, just as a person is a baby before he or she is an adult. I wonder if you meant to ask "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" I believe the chicken came first because it was created by God.
18394
The egg came first, from something that was close to, but not quite a chicken. What came out of the egg was a mutation, also known as the first chicken, or at least close to one. Since it was able to successfully breed, its mutated genes were passed on, and much later on, chickens were able to dominate, while their earlier ancestors became extinct...
24086
Its obviously the egg.\nlet me explain. If we embrace the evolution theory, and we have no reason not to, then we can assume that each species evolved from some ancient ancestor. the chicken, as we know it today has evolved from some other bird. this bird was probably very similar to chicken but at some point in history it layed an egg that carried the mutation that became later - chicken.\nyou can ask - why isn't the egg evolved from something else? well, it actually has. BUT an egg is an egg no matter how it looks like or whats in it - it can cary achicken an owl or a snake. you still call it an egg.\n\nthis is why my short answer is : the Egg.
219004
In my opinon.. the first chicken egg pre-dated the first chicken.\n\nAt one point there was a creature that was only one mutation away from being it chicken - it was ALMOST a chicken.  It mutated and then laid an egg that expressed the mutation by hatching into the worlds first full fledged chicken.\n\nThis question can be argued so many ways...  of course, if you don't accept the theory of evolution, my arguement is meaningless.