The proud papa.
Posted on 03/01/2011 7:03:30 AM PST by Red Badger
BONAPARTE, Iowa, March 1 (UPI) -- Experts said a 4.1-ounce egg laid by an Iowa chicken is unusual, but not without precedent.
Nathan Batten, 37, said Aussie, a black Australorp chicken, laid the egg measuring 3 1/2-inches long and 6 1/2 inches in circumference at his farm near Bonaparte Feb. 18, The Des Moines Register reported Monday.
The egg weighs about twice as much as an egg labeled large by U.S. Department of Agriculture standards and exceeds the average 2 1/2 ounces for a jumbo egg.
Sean Skeehan, who raises chickens at Blue Gate Farm in Chariton, said egg size is dictated by breed, not by diet. He said the huge egg was not surprising given previous 3-ounce eggs laid by Aussie.
Hongwei Xin, director of Iowa State University's egg industry center, said he heard of two similarly sized eggs at a farm near Winterset last year.
Batten said he is planning to contact Guinness World Records to determine whether the egg was a record-setter. On its Web site, Guinness makes no mention of largest egg laid by a chicken. It lists a more than 5-pound ostrich egg as the biggest egg laid by a bird.
Did anyone get that email last Thanksgiving about sticking some Cornish game hens in with the stuffing before baking it. Then when they served it claimed they had baked a pregnant mother turkey? It was really funny.
If you want eggs, Australorps are some of the best laying hens ever. We had a dozen of those, and many of them laid two eggs/day. Very hardy chickens that start laying early, and even free range outside, lay all through the winter.
Or more, possibly. My parent’s friend gave them an egg her hen had laid. The laying of the egg killed the hen. I don’t know how much it weighed, but I’d wager it was quite a bit over four ounces. The egg was a quintuple (yes, five!) yolker.
I once bought a dozen extra large eggs that had 23 yolks. I don’t know why that one egg was defective.
Seems like that guy should be holding a beer for some reason.
Wow, probably the most exciting thing to happen in Van Buren county in probably 50 years. :-D
The proud papa.
Unnngh!
LOL, I thought the same thing!
Yes, it’s a Feta compli...........
Merci!
The squawk was heard in three counties.
Yikes. I hope they gave that hen the rest of the week off. She’s earned it.
ping
All her large eggs were double yoked, unfertilized. But had they been fertilized, two chicks would have hatched.
Yikes! I never even saw a three yoker.
Ow.
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