A Sri Lankan hen has given birth to a chick without an egg, BBC reported.

Instead of passing out of the hen's body and being incubated outside, the egg was incubated in the hen for 21 days and then hatched inside the hen. The chick is fully formed and healthy, although the mother has died of internal wounds.

The story made headlines in Sri Lanka, with the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror concluding: "The chicken came first; not the egg."