The question of whether “the chicken or the egg came first” may no longer be important, as scientists have discovered a way to successfully hatch chicken eggs without the need for eggshells.
Researchers at Okayama University of Science in Japan have recently developed a shell-less egg incubation system designed to replace the eggshell during the laying process of White Leghorn chickens.
The shell-less incubation system was so successful that some chicks hatched successfully by the end of the normal incubation period and developed into normal chickens.
Scientists have found a way to raise chickens without eggshells (Photo: Getty).
It is known that the scientific community has been working for decades to develop a shell-less cultivation system, abbreviated as SLCS, and to apply it in practice.
In 2014, a method showed promise when chicken embryos were placed in a culture dish protected by a polymethylpentene food wrap.
However, this system failed as the chicks were unable to develop normally, significantly reducing the hatching success rate. The cause was identified as the drying of the protective membrane covering the embryo, leading to embryo damage.
Learning from this model, veterinary scientist Katsuya Obara from Okayama University of Science and his colleagues devised a new method.
They attached a culture dish containing the Leghorn chicken embryos to a shaking incubator to create continuous motion. The top plate of the shaker was set at a 7-degree angle, and experiments were conducted at different speeds of 6 revolutions per minute (RPM), 10 RPM, and 28 RPM.
This prevented the outer membrane of the embryo from drying out due to the continuous flow of egg white. However, the development and survival rates of the embryos after 10 days varied significantly.
At a speed of 6 RPM, the survival rate was the highest, but all embryos showed signs of slow development.
At 10 RPM, the survival rate was slightly lower, and some embryos exhibited abnormalities. Nonetheless, the survival rate of normal embryos was quite high.
Finally, at a speed of 28 RPM, all embryos exhibited abnormalities and could not survive after 10 days.
The researchers concluded that 10 RPM is the optimal speed for both the survival and development of chicken embryos.
They then proceeded to supplement oxygen and sprinkle calcium carbonate powder (the material that makes up the eggshell), along with manual shaking of the culture dish. This experiment increased the hatching rate of shell-less chicks by approximately 10%.
The chicks that hatched were raised for a year and then euthanized for examination. Inside their bodies, everything was completely normal, showing no differences compared to chickens hatched using traditional methods.
At that point, the scientists published their findings, stating that this new discovery plays a vital role in transforming poultry farming practices and serves as a powerful tool in various fields, such as toxicology, stem cell research, and regenerative medicine.
