Hen Gives Birth to Live Chick Without the Egg

Over in Sri Lanka, a hen gave birth to a live chick. You might recall something about how hens lay eggs, which they then incubate outside of their body, and that they don’t give birth to live anythings at all.

Unfortunately, the hen died, but the chick is fully formed and completely healthy. The explanation for the “live” birth is a fairly simple one; a veterinarian examined the hen and found that the chick’s egg was fertilized inside the hen, but then stayed inside the hen’s body until it hatched. The egg was incubated for 21 days inside the hen before it hatched. As one may have guessed, the hen died from internal wounds.

Feel free to make however many chicken or the egg jokes you feel this news tidbit requires, but also keep in mind that if we’re witnessing some new stage of evolution where chickens give live birth, we’re either entering a future without delicious breakfast materials, or one where we kill chickens to extract the eggs from inside their bodies.

(via BBC News)

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