Is It the Chicken or the Egg? The Divine Design of Nature

Where did it all begin? How could life emerge from the inanimate, or a very particular living being develop from something entirely different?

One of the most pressing challenges to such theories is the question: "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"

This isn't just a simple query; it is scientifically critical: How did reptiles or birds begin laying eggs in the first place? Anyone who has studied how complex an egg is can appreciate the magnitude of the question.

An egg is like an external womb, a mechanism where multiple factors must work simultaneously to allow the process to happen, so that other creatures can see the light of day. It's all or nothing.

If the egg isn't intricately detailed down to the tiniest part, there would be no egg, no chick hatching from the egg, and no hen able to lay another egg. Even the slightest change in the egg-laying mechanism would prevent the existence of all egg-laying animals: fish, reptiles, and birds. This clearly proves the existence of a Creator who meticulously planned every detail, leaving nothing to chance.

Let's delve into the complexity of a chicken's egg:

1. A precisely sized home:

The eggshell is the external home, within which the chick develops from a single cell. The shell needs the right thickness because if too fragile, the embryo would have no chance beyond becoming a fried egg. A shell that's too soft would break under the hen's weight as she sits on it. On the other hand, if the shell is too hard, the soft chick inside wouldn’t be able to break out, ending its life right there. The matter is more complex than it sounds, as eggs exposed to air require a shell that prevents the evaporation of their contents (just like a human fetus can't survive without fluid in the womb, a chick needs enough fluid to move within). Therefore, the egg is perfectly matched to the being residing within it. The shell is a marvel for numerous reasons, each critically determining life and death.

In short, there is no room for randomness, chances, or "accidents". A special code in the chicken's DNA determines the exact thickness of the shell—any change or "experiment" in this code would prevent their continued existence.

2. What's on the chick's menu?

In the womb, a fetus is nourished through the umbilical cord directly from its mother, receiving food and fluids. But what about a creature that develops outside its mother's body? Can a hen possibly pack a meal for her chick?

Well, it turns out that the yolk in the egg—the yellow part—is not the chick itself but contains the microscopic cell from which the chick develops through stages, feeding on the fats and proteins in the yolk—its reserve of food and drink.

(Photo: shutterstock)

The egg essentially contains a precise food reserve for the entire duration the chick needs to develop and grow strong enough to hatch.

Again, there is no room for randomness: even in the very first egg, there must exist a food type and fluid fit for the cell's development, in an amount that doesn't burden the egg, but is ample enough for the chick until it matures.

3. Did you know there's a waste pocket in an egg?

It turns out every egg contains an inner "waste pocket" for storing waste. As the chick develops and consumes the yolk, it grows, but must excrete waste during the process; if waste mixed within the egg, the "embryo" would be contaminated and die. This means that even within the very first terrestrial egg, there had to be an internally coordinated waste storage pocket! Again, for this purpose, there is a special code in the chicken's DNA that creates this waste pocket in the egg.

4. How does a hen know to brood on her eggs?

There’s no room for mistakes: if the primordial turtle doesn’t know right away to cover her eggs in sand, she endangers her entire species. If the hen doesn’t brood over the eggs to provide the required warmth, no chicks will develop. But where did the notion of brooding or covering the eggs in earth come from? How do reptiles know that digging a pit, laying eggs within it, and covering the eggs with earth will help sustain the offspring slated to emerge from them?

At first glance, there’s no reason for a hen to distinguish her eggs from any other excretion from her body. After all, the egg looks like a light, motionless stone, not breathing or resembling any other living creature. So why would she sit on it for hours and days? Similarly, reptilian behavior is hard to comprehend. What logic is there for a creature to bury its offspring with its own hands? This seems like an act of destruction and suffocation. All these actions require prior planning and understanding of reality, or they would end in death.

Obviously, neither the turtle nor the hen attended a zoology class (if they had to learn this, they wouldn’t survive in nature until the learning stage).

For this reason, a program is embedded in their heads. All animals have innate characteristics called "instincts", these are built-in commands in their brains that instruct them on how to act in each phase of their life, from hatching to death. The command to brood or cover the eggs is actually a precise line of code in their program, first encoded in the DNA. The chick develops according to the DNA, ensuring that even as a chick it holds the command in its brain on how to care for eggs when its time comes.

The integration of these mechanisms proves the design of creation made all at once, not in stages.

In the next article, we will discover how a chick receives warmth and how it manages to break out of the egg.