May is National Egg Month; and with a celebration of the egg the first question that comes to mind, and one that has perplexed man from as early as the Ancient Greeks, is which came first: the chicken or the egg?

It’s an age-old mystery, but some scientists claim they have proved the answer to be the egg. Due to mutation that took millennia, we now have the bird called a chicken that lays the 242 eggs eaten by each person in the United States annually. Of course, many believe the chicken was first. Now the origin of birds is still up in the air. Perhaps it will be debated for centuries to come.

Birds and eggs preceded man in the evolutionary chain. History indicates that wild fowl were domesticated as early as 3200 B.C. Egyptian and Chinese records show that fowl were laying eggs for man in 1400 B.C. Europe has had domesticated hens since 600 B.C. There is some evidence of native fowl in the Americas prior to the arrival of Columbus. Yet, it is believed th...