there are duplicates of this issue but they are very old so i'm creating this.

i was tossing a bunch of eggs onto a dirt wall and a large number of those spawned chicks suffocated in a second or two. there was no water nearby, just dirt (original, terrain-generated) and smoothstone.

in 1.8 and 1.7, i threw tons of eggs into dirt and even leaves and never had this problem.