Tap, tap, tap! Something is pecking inside the egg. Out comes a wet, wobbly chick. In a few hours it is dry and fluffy, and peeping for food.
Key idea
Egg → chick hatching → chick → young chicken → grown hen or rooster.
Why it works
A chick grows inside its egg for about three weeks while the egg is kept warm. It hatches covered in soft, fluffy down. Over the next several weeks its real feathers grow in, and it slowly looks more and more like its parents.
Worked example: Let's think it through
Is a chick born with long grown-up feathers?
- A new chick is covered in soft, fluffy down.
- Real feathers grow in over several weeks.
- By then it is a young chicken.
Answer: No. A chick hatches in soft down.
Common mistake
Children often think chicks hatch with grown-up feathers, or that a chick is a different kind of bird. A chick is a young chicken in fluffy down. It grows feathers as it grows up.
For the grown-up. A hen keeps her eggs warm by sitting on them; farms and schools sometimes use a warm box called an incubator. Chickens are a nice contrast to butterflies: a chick looks like a small, fluffy chicken from the start and simply grows.