A viral Reddit video has sparked fascination after showing what appeared to be a chicken growing outside its shell.
The footage followed the development of a chick in an artificial setting, allowing viewers to watch a process normally hidden inside an egg.
While many were amazed by the apparent scientific feat, others admitted the clip made them uncomfortable, with some joking that it looked like the beginning of a science-fiction movie.
Highlights
- A viral Reddit video left millions fascinated after showing a chick developing outside its shell in a transparent artificial environment.
- While some viewers called the footage “beautiful” and “breathtaking,” others admitted it felt more like the beginning of a sci-fi horror movie.
- The technology behind shell-less chick development is now being used by Colossal Biosciences in its ambitious quest to bring extinct birds like the dodo back to life.
“Honestly, this is quite horrifying,” one viewer commented.
The Reddit video showed a chick developing in a transparent setup instead of a traditional shell
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
The video begins with the contents of an egg being carefully transferred into a clean artificial environment.
As the footage progresses, viewers can watch the embryo develop. Blood vessels become visible, the chick grows larger, and eventually a fully formed bird can be seen moving inside the setup.
The clip condenses the entire process into a short video, showing a stage of development that most people never get to witness.
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
Unlike a normal egg, where the embryo remains hidden behind a shell, the transparent environment allowed viewers to observe the chick's growth from start to finish.
By the end of the video, the chick appeared fully developed and alive, leaving many viewers stunned that such a process could work outside a conventional eggshell.
Some people immediately asked whether the chick would be as healthy as one raised naturally.
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
“Does the chick turn out just as healthy as it would in a closed shell? I don’t know why, but I’m in awe!!” one person wrote.
Others simply viewed the footage as an extraordinary glimpse into the development of life.
“Fascinating and beautiful seeing life coming alive,” another commenter said.
Online viewers were split between amazement, curiosity, and outright horror
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
Some viewers found the process unsettling.
“A disgusting monstrosity,” one person wrote.
“Honestly, this is quite horrifying,” another added.
Others joked that the video looked like the beginning of a science-fiction disaster.
“Wait till the guy builds Jurassic Park,” one commenter wrote.
“You want zombies? This is how you get zombies!” another joked.
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
One viewer even referenced HBO’s hit series The Boys, writing, “Compound V, of course.”
Several people also questioned whether experiments like this could eventually go too far.
“Interesting, but how do we know he’s not gonna create a mutant one day?” one commenter asked.
Others defended the achievement and pointed out how difficult the process must have been.
“Don't be a downer. What the bro accomplished is not easy at all due to all the risks to a fragile, developing fetus,” one person argued.
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
Another viewer called the footage one of the most remarkable things they had ever seen.
“I've seen some truly amazing and unbelievable shit over the years, but this is honestly the most breathtaking thing of all. It's beautiful, uncanny, remarkable, and bizarre all at once. I'm so impressed!”
Not everyone focused on the science itself. Some pointed out that hatching is an important part of a chick's development.
“From growing up around chickens, it is quite important that they break themselves out of the shell. You're not supposed to hatch them; they're supposed to have the energy and strength to do it themselves,” one commenter noted.
A similar shell-less chicken video stunned the internet years ago
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
While the Reddit clip feels like something new, it is not the first time a shell-less chicken experiment has captured public attention.
In 2023, an older video originally shared in 2016 resurfaced online and attracted millions of views.
That footage showed a Japanese student cracking open a fertilized egg, transferring it into a plastic pouch-like environment, and incubating it until a chick eventually emerged.
The accelerated video documented the entire 21-day development process.
At several points, the student could be seen using a syringe as the embryo developed.
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
The clip generated widespread skepticism because many viewers struggled to believe what they were seeing.
However, experts later confirmed that the process shown in the video was scientifically possible.
The resurfaced footage eventually accumulated nearly 3 million views and around 32,000 likes, introducing a new audience to a technique that scientists have been studying for decades.
Experts revealed that growing a chick outside its shell is unusual but possible
According to E. David Peebles, a professor of poultry science at Mississippi State University, the technique shown in videos like these can work under carefully controlled conditions.
Peebles previously told CNBC that he had seen similar demonstrations before, including examples at North Carolina State University.
Research involving shell-less chicken development has existed for decades. Scientific literature discussing the technique dates back to at least 1971.
In 2014, The Journal of Poultry Science published research describing shell-less cultivation methods and their potential applications in tissue engineering, embryo manipulation, regenerative medicine, and the development of transgenic chickens.
Despite what viral videos may suggest, experts shared that the process is far from simple.
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
“What they are doing in an artificial environment is providing a protective coating that is semi-permeable so that water can be lost and gases can be exchanged,” Peebles explained.
A natural eggshell does much more than simply contain an embryo. It protects against bacteria, regulates moisture levels, and allows oxygen to enter while carbon dioxide escapes.
Recreating those conditions artificially requires careful control of the environment throughout development.
Peebles also noted that the method is not something that would be used for commercial chicken production or food farming.
Scientists are now developing artificial eggs for much bigger projects
Image credits: Be Awesome/YouTube
The idea of growing chicks outside traditional eggs is no longer limited to classroom demonstrations or viral internet videos.
In May 2026, Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences announced that it had successfully hatched 26 healthy chicks using fully artificial eggs.
The company developed the technology as part of its broader efforts to revive extinct bird species such as the dodo and New Zealand's giant moa.
“Every new scalable system for de-extinction is ultimately a biology problem wrapped in an engineering problem,” Colossal co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm said when announcing the breakthrough.
Scientists involved in the project explained that natural eggs are surprisingly complex structures.
A typical eggshell contains thousands of microscopic pores that allow gases to move in and out while also helping protect the embryo from contamination.
To replicate those functions, researchers created artificial eggs featuring specialized membranes and carefully engineered environments that support development.
Unlike the viral experiments, however, the chicks still completed the final stage themselves by breaking through the artificial membrane.
Researchers believe the technology could eventually help incubate birds that are far too large to develop inside the eggs of living species.
From "disgusting monstrosity" to "fascinating", netizens have mixed opinions about the experiment
