In the summer of 1909, a shipment of “strictly fresh” eggs arrived in Chicago with an unexpected surprise inside. After a hot ride from Missouri in a boxcar, the case began to chirp.
When commission merchants opened it, they found not spoiled eggs, but 14 live chicks nestled among the packing materials.
The heat of the journey had apparently turned the railroad car into a moving incubator, hatching the eggs before they ever reached market.
Eggs Hatched in Transit
CHICAGO, Illinois. — Chicken fanciers and commission merchants marveled today when a brood of 14 chickens, alive and well, was found in a case of eggs shipped to Chicago from Missouri.
The case was marked by”strictly fresh,” but when it arrived after a heated journey in a box car, the downy little chicks were discovered on the top layer of pasteboard within the case.
Indisputable evidence that the eggs had hatched in transit was seen when the case was opened after sundry chirps from its lively contents had attracted attention. Incubator experts declared a temperature of at least 101 degrees must have been required to accomplish the automatic hatching.
The chickens were given to a teamster and transferred to the care of a motherly Plymouth Rock.
Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. August 19, 1909.
