The Egyptian Egg Ovens Are Considered More Amazing Than the Pyramids. A hatching technique invented 2,000 years ago is still used in rural Egypt.

> Farmers still use the same techniques developed 2,000 years ago

Aristotle and Diodorus Siculus were the first to describe Egyptian egg-hatching as wonderful. They were alluding to Egyptian egg incubators, an innovative system of mud ovens meant to mimic the circumstances of a broody hen. With a lot of heat, moisture, and regular egg-turning, an egg oven may hatch up to 4,500 fertilized eggs in two to three weeks. The buildings were frequently described by Western visitors in their writings about Egypt.

> Ancient Egyptian mural depicting food offerings (1422-1411 B.C.). Chicken did not become a feature of Egyptian diets until the fourth century B.C.

Chickens were not indigenous to Egypt until they were domesticated during the Ptolemaic dynasty (which lasted from 323 to 30 BC). Egyptians invented the first egg incubators to ensure a steady supply of chicken meat. Many incubators seemed to be smaller, more rounded copies of the pyramids from the outside. They were built on rectangular brick foundations and featured conical chimneys with circular openings at the top.

> An illustration of Egyptian egg incubators by Charles E. Riddiford

In the 14th century, Irish friar Simon Fitzsimons described Egyptian egg ovens as 'wonderful' and said that chickens were 'generated by fire from hen eggs'. The descriptions of 'furnaces' that would 'produce' chicks were later included in one of the most popular travelogues of the Middle Ages, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Western writers projected their own worldviews to make sense of the incubators.

> A diagram of the egg incubators by French entomologist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur

In 1750, French adventurer Réaumur was allowed inside the 'mythical' Egyptian egg ovens and described them. They were divided into two symmetrical wings by a central corridor and held up to five sets of two-tiered chambers, according to him. Fertilized eggs were stored in the lower tier and kept warm in the upper tier by a smoldering fire.

> Egg incubators free up hens from having to warm their eggs

It's also important to know when to stop brooding. An early birth can be c...