Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find

A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an ‘eggstraordinary’ find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.

Melinda Groen’s husband was checking in on the 60 chickens the couple has in their hen house when he discovered the large egg.

“I knew there was something up when I saw the scale on the counter,” Groen said.

“He said ‘I've got a big egg.’ When I saw it, I was like, ‘Holy.’”

The egg weighed 152 grams. To put that into perspective, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said a normal large egg weighs around 56 grams.

Groen ‘cracked’ the case on Tuesday morning. Inside, she found a second egg fully intact along with the yolk.

“I haven't even eaten it yet. The first egg I'm going to give to the dog because it looks like a dog egg,” Groen said.

The egg weighed 152 grams. To put that into perspective, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said a normal large egg weighs around 56 grams. (Supplied)

The egg weighed 152 grams. To put that into perspective, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said a normal large egg weighs around 56 grams. (Supplied)

“It's still a nice yolk and everything, but it's a little bit cloudy. The second egg is clear. That one I would eat. I'm sure it will be delicious.”

This rare phenomenon is known as counter-peristalsis contraction. It occurs when a formed egg travels backward in a hen's oviduct and becomes embedded inside a second egg early on in the egg’s development.

“It’s quite a rarity and it’s exciting,” she said.

Groen, a former dairy farmer for 20 years, once had an egg that weighed 121 grams. She recalled the story of a chicken farmer friend who would often brag about his large eggs, including one that weighed 119 grams and won him prizes at fairs.

“So we’re sort of in a competition now for the largest egg,” Groen said.

She also remembers reading a story of a Leamington, Ont., family that opened a 175-gram egg on their farm last January.

o    Download our app to get local alerts on your device

o    Get the latest local updates right to your inbox

“We don’t have the Ontario record, but we might be second,” she said.

As for which hen laid the egg, she’s narrowed it down to one of 40 of her hens.