Our bantam hens talk to their eggs, their chicks, each other, and to us. It's common behavior in chickens, ducks, and geese, along with many other (perhaps all) bird species.

In the Riddle song, "A chicken when it's pipping; it has no bone" "pipping" refers to the chick whacking the inside of the eggshell to break out an opening in the large end from which it can hatch. The little fluffballs certainly have bones, but they are somewhat malleable.

The sounds chicks make from inside the egg prior to and following hatching are more often referred to as peeping in the USA. I'm sure there are many other interpretations of their sounds.

For more scholarly and fascinating studies in this area and that of imprinting, look up Konrad Lorentz and his Greylag Geese.

maeve