Chicken or Egg ?

Here's a photo of about 25 chickens that I saw today while inspecting a home in Barnstable. There are some "Rhode Island Red" chickens shown here as well as some other chickens.

The age old question is "Which came first the chicken or the egg ?" In this case the chicken came first as I asked the owner this question. He replied,"Well Rick. I built this chicken coop about eight months ago but for some reason I wasn't getting any eggs. Then, I decided to bring in about 25 chickens and all of a sudden eggs started appearing daily after the chickens were in this coop. So, I definitely think the chicken came before the egg at least here at my home."

What is your opinion? Chicken or Egg? Which came first?