does the chicken come first or the egg

I think it depends on what context you are speaking of this saying in. The Chicken or hen has to be there to incubate the egg, and of course from the egg comes the chicken. I believe it's mean't to be a metaphor thought provoking statement on cycles and beginnings. In production lines chickens hatch eggs, but eggs have all of the nutrients of human life in them. So start at the egg. Or if it suits, start at the chicken. The egg cannot live without the chicken, but I would tend to favour the egg as a first, as it lives its life both inside and underneath the chicken...