Which Came First, Chicken Or Egg? and why?
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?
187832
The chicken. The Bible tells God created all living animals and then provided for them to reproduce. So the egg was how they reproduced.
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."
267261
Which came first - the chicken or chicken egg? \n\n"The chicken" came first - in the sentence of the question. \n\nIf the question is phrased differently, the answer is different.
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.
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.  :)
267464
The egg, because chickens are the result of evolution, so the egg is the correct answer
454236
chicken came first!!\nPS:chicken comes in a dictionary before egg
645833
The Chicken/hen came first.\n\nGenesis 1:20  And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
159512
The chicken because God created all of the animals first.  The egg came shortly after. :D
663991
The egg.\nBefore chickens evloved into chickens, they were some other species that laid egss.\nOf course, if you are a creationist, you'll dispute that.
190885
People will keep asking this question... (681 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.
41478
Which came first - the chicken or the egg? \n\n"The chicken" came first - in the sentence of the question. If the question is phrased differently, the answer is different.\n\n!
107389
All living things are created by God (or whatever higher power you believe in) so the chicken had to come first.  The egg is not alive yet.
985484
For #2:\nFor the question, which came first, the chicken (hen) or the egg, the answer is obviously the egg! There were eggs of other species before there were chicken eggs. The first animal that we would today consider a chicken hatched from an egg that was laid by, and created by the breeding of two animals that were not quite what we would consider a chicken today. It's simply evolution, my friend.\n\nAs for #1, asexual reproduction existed before sexual reproduction, but the distinction between male and female must have come about together, otherwise how could there be more reproduction after that?\n\nFor #3, I'm assuming you mean human (homo sapiens) parents and a human (homo sapiens) baby. The first of our species, homo sapiens, must have been born to two parents who were not quite homo sapiens, but were similar to homo sapiens. Therefore, the first human would have been a baby (son or daughter). Again, simply evolution!
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.
1153546
We don't actually know. If the chicken came first, an egg was needed to hatch into that chicken in the first place. If the egg came first, a chicken would be needed to hatch an egg. There is no definite answer (yet anyway).