When I was a kid growing up on the family farm in southeast Saskatchewan, the only way I could earn an allowance was by looking after the chickens. It was my responsibility to feed them after school (and on weekends) and collect the eggs each day. Overall I didn’t mind the job because I enjoyed being amongst the chickens, mostly because I, too, had chicken legs and was scared of everything. I felt one with the chicken!
In all the years of looking after chickens we never had any unusual eggs or any odd chicken quarks to speak of. A family farm in Mattawa, ON found themselves in an EGGciting situation recently after collecting a massive 152 gram egg from a chicken! The average weight of a chicken egg is anywhere between 50 and 70 grams, but this one really tipped the scales. What would cause such a strange thing? According to experts, this happens when an egg travels backwards down the chicken’s oviduct and merges with another egg in the development phase, creating one MASSIVE egg. Despite being a rare occurrence, it’s not unheard of for this to happen. Last year, a chicken in Manitoba laid a 202 gram egg and another chicken in Leamington, ON laid a 175 gram egg.
While a 152 gram chicken egg is big, it’s nowhere near the world record. A white leghorn chicken in New Jersey laid the largest egg on record in February of 1956 at 454 grams – and that’s no yolk! We as humans may find these eggs impressive, but not the chickens. Apparently this chicken in Ontario is still walking funny.
