Friday 16 October 2009

A question of quality control!

You may know that we have some hens.   It has been suggested that they are slightly eccentric.   I would even go so far now as to say 'eggcentric'.  



These are three recent offerings.   The lovely little brown egg at the front of the photo is a normal sized one, from Hilda.   The tiny one was obviously a mistake by Madge - no yolk in it.   The eye-wateringly huge one seems to have been laid by a visiting goose!



I cracked it open this morning, thinking that it would be at least a double-yolker.   But guess what, inside there was another normal sized egg!    Just like those nesting Russian dolls.   A matryoshka egg.  


So what on earth was the hen who laid it thinking about?   Had she been sitting on the nest so long she forgot where she was in the production line?   Was she just being a bit 'belt-and'-braces' about things, not wanting to take any chances?    Distracted by something at the crucial moment?   Clearly she lost the plot for some reason, but I think the experience might be one she'll take a lot of trouble not to repeat!

Has any other hen-keeper had anything like it?   I'd love to know!

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I hope you have a wonderful weekend, whatever you do!


                                                                                                                         

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

You definitely have the strangest hens in all christendom, Chrissie - that is the most bizarre eggy thing I have ever seen! I thought we were supposed to be cutting down on packaging these days?
Anne

heidi said...

bless her,all that extra hard work pushing that huge egg out!! they are so funny,you have to smile! thats nature for you!!

florcita said...

Oh dear! ahahahah what a weird bunch of eggs! ahaha We want to get some hens next year and I can not wait to be confronted with this type of situations! LOL

Karen said...

well that egg is amazing! Made my eyes water too! Thanks so much for your comment and you are ABSOLUTELY NOT INTRUDING!!!!!

fibrefrolics said...

I wonder what Hilda and Madge will produce next?! I have never come across anything like your Russian doll egg before, but strangely enough, they were talking about just that subject on last night's Autumnwatch.I think it must be quite rare.

menopausalmusing said...

Oh my word! Have never seen an egg like that. We have, on rare occasions, had eggs with no shell (just the soft inner membrane containing the egg content), but nothing like your wonderful egg(s).

Anonymous said...

Lawrence says he remembers one of our hens doing the same thing once upon a time. Personally, I think he's hallucinating ............ as you know, I have no memory of anything like it, ever! But then again .............. I have no memory .......
Anne

Gina said...

We've had one or two "goose" size eggs that were double yolkers but never a double shelled version!

CJ STITCHING AND BLOOMS said...

Good Day Chrissie, I have never seen an egg inside of another egg. It has to be a rare ocurrence and lucky you to have discovered it. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend too. Hugs Judy

JuliaB said...

Ooooer!!! that is amazing! I found a baby corn on the cob inside one of my big cobs ... but the egg thing.. wow!! x x

Karen said...

Hi Chrissie, yes that was a very nice thing to say, Thankyou!!

ewa-christine said...

What a lovley berättelse ................!

at swim-two-birds said...

very bizarre!!!!!!!!! but i love it.
I once saw a pic in the newspaper from a hen with a 'little mutation' on her backsite, she had a third eye :-)