The answer to the question that has plagued the minds of our past generations is surprisingly straightforward, and it requires no education exceeding that of a fifth grader. That question being: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

For those unfamiliar with the theory of evolution, which is nowadays widely accepted as the truth, Charles Darwin, in The Origin of Species, explained that all species developed, over millions of years, from a formation of atoms through methodical mutation of genetic blueprints called deoxyribonucleic acid. This happened when a genetic mutation, or random mistake in the reproduction of DNA, resulted in genes superiorly suitable for an individuals’ given environment.

I am not here to defend or explain the theory of evolution as a whole, however, I am here to explain whether the chicken or the egg came first. Basic understanding of the scientific basis of the development of life is integral to the analysis of this perplexion. In order to illustrate the idea of natural selection, a core principle behind evolution, Charles Darwin, in The Origin of Species, says “… if man goes on selecting, and thus augmenting, any peculiarity, he will almost certainly modify unintentionally other parts of the structure, owing to the mysterious laws of correlation.” Darwin refers to the invisible hand of nature and its favor towards certain characteristics as man physically hand picking oddities in nature as favorable in order to explain the phenomenon of natural selection. 

Though it did not happen by accident, it did. Certain traits were naturally selected to be favorable towards survival, causing new species to flourish, old ones to become extinct, and thus the overall transition from one species to another.

Transitioning this idea into the frame of reference of the well-known chicken, we can understand that chickens were not always chickens. Furthermore, chickens, at one point, did not exist on earth. We have now narrowed our scope, on the timeline, to before the chicken or the egg came. Now we can continue analyzing to see which came first. 

Based on the theory of evolution and basic scientific understanding, chickens evolved from a long line of birds that began with a specific type of dinosaur that existed in the jurassic age. Immediately before the chicken on the line of evolution is the Gallus Gallus junglefowl. 

So what does this mean? Well, the theory of evolution explains that a Gallus Gallus junglefowl slowly mutated enough and changed characteristics enough to become known as a chicken. We are getting very close to our answer of what came first.

At one point in time, a single bird that was characterized not as a chicken, because those did not exist, but a Gallus Gallus jungle fowl, hatched an egg that was mutated enough that the resulting bird could be recognized as a whole new species, a chicken. Therefore, it is understood that the egg came before the chicken. 

That is correct, God did not one day decide to toss a live, adult chicken into the universe for all of existence to enjoy. The first chicken egg was hatched from the body of a very-slightly non chicken bird ancestor.