Beitza 7a.

1- The Gemara discussed as to what stage (in the process of the formation of an egg to it being laid) does the egg ‘detach’ itself from being part of the chicken.

2- Opinion of the Chachamim is that even early on it is considered an entity for itself and therefore never ‘fleishigs‘. Reb Yaakov maintains that if the egg is still wrapped around with the veins and sinews it is considered part of the chicken and therefore ‘fleishigs’.

3- The Gemara then proceeds to a case of one who checks his chicken coop at twilight Erev YomTov and finds the coop empty. He then checks again on Yom Tov  fartugs – before dawn and lo and behold, finds an egg.

It’s seems obvious that the egg was laid in the middle of the night on Yom Tov and thus prohibited from consumption.

But the Gemara takes issue with a chicken laying eggs at night.

The general rule is that animals that mate only during the day, such as the rooster and the hen, give birth or lay eggs –  only during daylight hours. So this egg found in the chicken coop could not have been laid on Yom Tov night.

So how did it get there?

One must say that some rare event had happened. The chicken laid the egg on Erev Yom Tov but before it totally exited from the chicken it went back into the chicken which is why the nest seemed empty.

So technically it was laid before Yom Tov and therefore permitted.

4- However here is the caveat – Eggs are created either by the mating with a rooster or thru ‘safna de’ara’ – the heat of the ground.

The rule that chickens only lay eggs during daylight hours is only if the egg was fertilized – it was created via a rooster. If there was no rooster involved the chicken may lay the eggs even at night.

How can one know the type of egg it is? Naturally or due to mating with a rooster? The Gemara says that it is an accepted axiom that if there is a rooster within 60 homes away from the coop the chicken will never create an egg on its own! It will wait for the rooster.

More so – even if the rooster needs to cross a bridge to get to the chicken the chicken will still not produce an egg on its own.

5- Speaking of animals we mentioned a humorous error by a famed enlightened professor who penned an article claiming that Chazal disparaged the 7 prophetess mentioned in Gemara Megila amongst them Chulda the Nevia.

One of the ‘proofs’ this professor mentions is that Chulda the Prophetess  was not even accepted by all as a prophetess. He quotes an ‘opinion’ questioning her being a prophetess.

Where did this professor find this ‘opinion’?  On Google it seems.

The Gemara discusses in Pesachim if a weasel (Chulda in Hebrew) hides an entire loaf of bread it encounters or leaves some to pick up at a later date. One opinion is that it depends. All year when bread is baked daily the weasel relies on the availability the next day and sees no need to take it all. On the other hand on Erev Pesach knowing that bread will not be baked it will hoard it all.

The Gemara asks “Is then a weasel/Chulda a propetess to know that Pesach is approaching”…….