The biggest egg that I have ever seen :)

Well, this was one that pretty much took my breath away.  Whilst putting away chickens, checking water, and well, just saying good night.  I went to the laying nests to gather eggs and I saw something that shook my world.  It was an egg, an egg of such magnitude and oddness that I surely thought Mother Goose herself had come for a visit.  An egg, so big, I have never seen.  Was really thunderstruck and then picked it up.  Oh man, how heavy was this egg, so heavy....I had concern.  This not only was a very large egg, but this was a very wide egg in an area.  Oh dear.  Are all the girls fine?  This was laid, clearly from one of the buff Orpington gals that had been taking a break, whilst during the fall molt.  Clearly, now laying again. But why, why, why?  Why would an egg of this magnitude be laid, don’t get it, probably never will.  I had fourteen gals to have a look at, and they all looked at me.  They were mostly on their roosts, some facing outwards, looking at me, a few facing inwards, looking at the wall I guess.  I looked at the girls facing the wall, and looked everywhere for sign of blood, anything unusual, nothing.  I looked at the girls looking at me, and knew that they were all OK.  Geeze....

Goes to show how large actually a hen’s vent is.  Would have to be, for something of this magnitude to slip out.  Wonder....is there pain associated with that.  Actually, don’t think so, we put that emotion in places, maybe it is one that is similar, but I doubt it.  Oh well, it is a never mind.

I took the egg inside, along with the others.  My buffs are currently laying about a 62 gram egg.  A decent size.  But oh this one.  When it is held in the hand, it feels heavy as a rock.  It weighed 145 grams.  Over double the weight of the average eggs I have been getting lately.  Oh geeze.  That is one whomping egg.  I bet my bottom dollar a triple yolker, or even a four yolker, or maybe it is just all albumen.  Who knows.  Time will tell that tale, and later today, I think I will just open it up and see what the contents are.  But for now, looky at this egg.  Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

Both views of the egg

CynthiaM, there may also be an egg inside that egg, shell and all. I have heard of that before and could account for the weight of it. I look forward to hearing what it is.

Bet that hen was working to get that one out.. Wow!

Oh and this is what the egg looked like in the palm of my hand.  Coopslave, could be an egg within an egg, had one of those one time too, I'll post a picture of that egg within an egg  have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

The egg, held in the palm of my hand



Good picture of what an egg within an egg looks like, had that about a year and a half ago



It was a good size compared to the other eggs too!!

Oh my goodness! Crack that sucker open and take photos! This is better than Christmas.

That's so cool CynthiaM!!! Can't wait to see what's inside!!! Please post photos for us!! Very neat!

CynthiaM I'm holding my breath! I cannot wait to hear and hopefully see what is inside! it is like waiting for Christmas day when you are 6.

Ah, I shall continue on with my story.  Oh boy, this has become the weirdest experience of my life.  Get this, look at the pictures closely, as I narrate what I saw and what you will see too.  This has become a mystery, and someone MUST help me to get to the bottom of it.  You will see what I mean by the last picture of the broken open eggs.  Have wonderful days, CynthiaM.

So, I ever so carefully opened the egg, the shell was hard, as an egg should be.  Inside that big egg was an egg yolk and albumen.  Also there was another egg.  I venture to say that it was one of Coopslave’s hybrids, the Cooper, because the other birds in that particular coop are buff Orpington and they lay a very light brown egg.  The Coopers have not been laying for about a month now.  



So cool.  A fully formed egg in a shell inside the big egg.  I opened the brown egg and in there was another fully formed yolk with albumen.  So now we have two opened eggs, and two separate egg yolks and matching albumen.



Now this is where the story gets really weird and I am doubting even myself right now.  Husband was out, and I wanted to show him what the contents of the big, fat egg was.  I left our home and went down to do chicken stuff.  I came back and looked at the bowl of eggs, because I had to move them from where they were located. Get this, and geeze, I am still sitting here with my mouth open.  There are now three yolks.  Two light coloured yolks, as there was originally.  But now, get this THERE IS A THIRD YOLK.  It is a dark yolk.  Now where on earth could this yolk have come from.  Clearly, when I left the house, there was only two yolks.  Was there a yolk inside a yolk and it slipped out.  What there a yolk attached to the bottom of one of the yolks and it separated.  Anyone’s guess is as good as mine and it is just the oddest and weirdest thing I have ever encountered.  Where did the third yolk come from.  When I opened both eggs, and broke out the contents, I know for a very fact there was only two eggs and the albumen present.....what gives. Would love to hear what people think.  I am baffled.   The yolk was quite soft, and it broke when I was moving it over a bit.  So there ya go, that is what was within the big, fat egg!!

Please, someone help me figure out where the third yolk came from, I need to know and understand this.


This is the egg gathering today from that coop, the dark brown one is the Coopers breed egg, so I know for a fact that they are thinking about starting up again, they have had a nice break, smiling.  the Coopers egg is not nearly as dark as it was when they first began laying mid September, I do hope that the colour darkens, it is still a pretty colour though.

Well, is that ever cool. Thanks for breaking it open and sharing the contents with us! I have no explanation for the yolk phenomenon.

I think my chickens must have been feeling put out that I was SO excited about YOUR egg, so one of my free-loading Houdans laid an egg today. It's a Christmas miracle!

So interesting, thank you for sharing this. I would have never thought this could happen. Wonder if you'll find another one like that in the future

Freaky! You don't think someone snuck in and added a third yolk?

I thought it may be an egg inside an egg. I have heard of them, but never had one. I think what happened to give you the 'third' yolk is a tiny break in the one yolk and some leaked out to look like a third. See how in the last picture the second yolk looks flatter.
Anyways, thanks for sharing. It is interesting to see 2 very well formed eggs like that. I hope it doesn't happen again for her, I am sure it is not pleasant!!!!   
The eggs should get back up to colour. Sometimes the 'paint' system takes a couple to get back working properly again.

Well that's just cool. I was thinking that perhaps the 2nd yolk leaked also - still pretty dang neat. Chickens never cease to amaze me. Thanks for sharing!

yes, thanks CynthiaM. I had a quick look on google images to see if I could find others like it and there are a few. I typed in "egg within another egg" . some look just like yours. Chickens are totally amazing = that would have been quite the delivery.

Oh that third egg yolk. No one was home, just my dogs. Hmmm...dogs do funny things . The third yolk was a fully formed yolk. When I tried to move the shell it must have punctured that yolk and it broke, it was very soft for it to break that easily. So nope. It was a fully formed yolk too, but I think somehow it was attached to the bottom of one of the other yolks or was inside and slipped out. I have no explanation. Yes. Those Coopers are not a big bird, I would say about one half the size of the orpingtons. so for that bird to lay such a large egg, it really makes me wonder how large the vent of chickens REALLY is, when it wants to be. Well, on some chickens anyways, this one must have a whopper of a hole    . Yes, Coopslave, I know how dark the eggs were, I do think they will go back to that darker brown. Anyways, just some cool and interesting stuff. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

CynthiaM, it is interesting that you say they are half the size of the Orps. I would be very interested to know the weights of yours. I am wondering if it s fluff that makes the Orps appear bigger. My Coopers are very nice sized birds, but I don't have your Orps to compare to!   

I will weigh the girls, Coopslave. I think I am getting some chicken scales from youngest Daughter for Christmas. That was my wish list to her, she thinks I'm nuts . Those pullets could very well weigh more than I think, and yes, could very well be they are similar in mass to the orpingtons. The orpingtons are much taller though...feathers do make a bird look bigger than they actually are, that is for sure. That will be on my agenda over the next little while. I will weigh each girl, if I get some scales. And if I don't get some scales tomorrow morning (celebration at youngest Daughter's for present openings), I will be purchasing some regardless. There is quite a difference between the size of each of the Coopers pullets, one is very much bigger. Wish I knew which one was laying, smiling. The Coopers egg laid yesterday weighed 58 grams, just went and weighed that one a minute ago. That is a very good sized egg and the eggs were larger than that before they stopped laying. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

I will be watching for weights with interest. Maybe I need to ask for a scale for Christmas as well. I used to use the calf scale at the last ranch and don't have it anymore!

Sorry for the hijack, back to the big sucker egg you posted. We are all glad you shared it with us!!

Cynthia, Seriously you should send those pictures and your story into one of the poultry magazines. I'm pretty sure not many people

have seen anything like that before. We had laying hens for years and most we got was a double yolker. Lucky you.   

Geeze, tried to put my rooster and some hens on the scale that I got for Christmas. Nope, not meant for live birds, do you think they would stand on that 10 " by 10" glass disk, smiling....I need to get out my old fish scale, put the birds in a bag and hang them    . Then, Coopslave, I can weigh your Cooper girls! One is so much smaller than the others, when I put her on the little scale, it said 3 pounds, but I know that was wrong, I think it was because she would not stand still! Kept curling her toes under and you cannot stand a chicken like that. I am laughing, it was such a funny thing to try to do. Now....that is an awesome scale for weighing dead birds, like the ones that came from the processor, accurate, digital, I liked that. So still has some use. Lady Leghorn, I just can't be bothered to do any kind of remittance of my stuff to anything other than on forum, just too much effort and I am lazy I guess    have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

You need to put some of that sticky shelf paper on the scale, then try weighing the hens. They haven't got anything to grip their feet on.

Probably feel like they're going skating, lol. Too bad you wouldn't send the pictures in for lots of people to see that miracle you got to see.

found this about eggs within eggs.

EGG-WITHIN-AN-EGG
This situation occurs when an egg that is almost ready to be laid reverses engines into the reproductive tract, meeting up with another egg-in-progress. It gets another layer of white/albumen and a new layer of shell before being laid. The cause is not known. While the literature characterizes this egg-within-an-egg phenomenon as "rare," my sense is that it is significantly more common than previously believed. Many backyard chicken-keepers report discovering eggs-within-eggs from their hens.


from: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/01/how-hen-makes-egg-egg-oddities.html