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The Hen
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The process of creating a baby chick begins with the mating of a rooster and a hen. According to the Department of Animal Science at Oklahoma State University, the hen has a reproductive organ consisting of one ovary. The female sex organ is attached midway between the neck and the tail. This contains several thousand ova, or unfertilized eggs. These ova ripen every 10 to 12 days. The hen has an oviduct, or tube, that lies between the ovary and the tail. This is where the sperm travels during mating.
The Rooster
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A rooster, according to the Agriculture Ministry of Nova Scotia, does not have a penis. Instead, it has testes that produce sperm. The testes are connected to vas deferens attached to papilla or small projections on a cloaca. The cloaca is an organ that serves both for sex and defecation. Hens also have cloacas.
Mating
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Hens and roosters mate by touching cloacas. During this action, the rooster deposits sperm into the oviduct. The sperm travels up into the oviduct and hen's infundibulum, or egg pouch.
Fertilization
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Fertilization occurs when the rooster sperm meet the hen ovum. The egg's cells then start to divide to form the embryo chick.
Hatching
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During the incubation process, the egg has to lose 13 percent of its weight for the baby chick to be able to properly turn in the shell to peck its way out. If the chick is too large or sticky, it cannot position itself at the broad end of the egg to use its egg tooth to tap open the shell. If all goes well, the chick will use this tooth to rip open the egg.
Growth of a Baby Chick
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A baby chick takes two years to grow into an adult. Most chickens live about eight years if they are not slaughtered for food or do not die from disease or predators. The world's oldest chicken, a magic show bird named Matilda, lived for 16 years.
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Life Cycle of Baby Chickens
Chickens start out as small and helpless baby chicks. The cycle, from the beginning inside the hen, is an interesting process that leads to the birth of a new life.