Ready for a little freak out?
About a month ago, my 6 month old chicken Gertie withheld her egg for a few days. No big deal right?
When she finally laid it, it was HUGE! It was seriously the size of a duck egg. She had only been laying for a few weeks, so I know this one had to hurt. Poor girl.
In the photo above, the egg on the left is her normal sized egg. The brown one is from my Barred Rock, Penny. The white one on the right is an extra large store-bought egg.
The gigantic one in the middle is from little Gertie!
My boys and I were excited to open up the egg because we figured it was a double yolker! Well, it was more than that...
When we cracked it open, out came a yolk, white and and a whole entire egg in a shell! Whoa!
It was like a magic trick!
And yes, the inner egg had a regular yolk and white.
I immediately emailed some chicken expert friends. Thanks to Hank Will, the editor at Grit Magazine, for immediately assured me that Gertie would be fine. (And she is.) He is quite the chicken expert and he gave me a thorough explanation of what happened.
I discovered that although this is rare, it does happen with new chickens as their bodies adjust to the process of making eggs. Usually, you get a double yolk. Occasionally, you get what I got. I received many a congratulations from chicken enthusiasts everywhere. And just for the record, many of my chicken raising friends wrote back saying "WHOA!". So not everyone knows about this phenomenon.
For a full explanation, you can go HERE.
We now call Gertie our MAGIC chicken because she can lay MAGIC eggs.
We are watching closely to see if she does it again. If so, we will video tape the opening of the egg!
Stay tuned...
Now THAT is cool! We occasionally buy chickens from our neighbors and while I have gotten a double yolk, never THIS! I'm going to show this to her.
Posted by: Kylee from Our Little Acre | November 10, 2009 at 06:54 AM
Thanks Kylee.
I know! How cool is that. My only regret is that I did not video tape the opening of the egg. I had no idea this was inside!
~Theresa
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | November 10, 2009 at 07:20 AM
My first thought is simply "poor Gertie." Ouch that must have hurt. As cool as it is to have something rare, I think she'd vote to pass next time.
Posted by: Kat | November 10, 2009 at 07:24 AM
I've heard about the double-shell phenomenon but we've not had that happen to us yet. :)
One of our chickens died of an impacted egg though, so, like humans, "giving birth" can be a bit dangerous for chickens.
Glad Gertie is ok!
Posted by: Teresa | November 10, 2009 at 08:40 AM
Kat - I thought the same thing. I went out and checked her little bottom when I saw the egg she laid. I expected her to walk funny after that one. But she seemed fine.
Teresa- That was my concern as well. That is why I started asking around about it. I keep my eye on her closely now. She had a few weird shaped eggs before this one too. But now, she seems to be working like clockwork. I think she is over the worst of it.
Whew!
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | November 10, 2009 at 09:00 AM
Whaa?? My brain hurts!
Posted by: Katie/Gardenpunk | November 10, 2009 at 05:35 PM
Hi Katie-
Well, I think more than Gertie's brain hurt after she laid THAT egg! LOL
Theresa
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | November 11, 2009 at 06:22 AM
oh my!! I hope little Gertie at least got some bragging rights with all the other girls in the hen house! What a feat! So glad she is none the worse for wear!! :-)
Della
Posted by: Della Sinnock | November 11, 2009 at 09:30 AM
Oh yes. She got bragging rights alright! I'm sure the other girls were impressed.
~Theresa
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | November 11, 2009 at 01:24 PM
I hope you chicken is going to be O.K. I would not have wanted to have my chickens go through that. I am a chicken lover.
Posted by: Jil | November 21, 2009 at 11:27 AM
We've had chickens for several years but never had an egg within an egg.
Posted by: Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening | December 05, 2009 at 04:05 PM
very very cool
Posted by: Leslie | January 21, 2010 at 03:46 PM
Holy cow, Theresa! I mean, holy hen. That is the coolest! And poor Gertie... I'm glad to hear that she's doing fine and laying normally now. Maybe that one egg got the oddness out of her system. :)
Posted by: Tink @ tinkhanson.com | October 15, 2010 at 08:06 AM
Yes Tink - It was a little freaky to be sure.
LOL
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | October 15, 2010 at 01:58 PM
This is really unbelievable! Happy to hear little Gertie is doing fine. Meanwhile, I had a weird experience with one of chickens (don't know who!). We had an egg with 3 yolk! I never heard such a thing myself. You can see the picture in my blog (http://bostancik.blogspot.com/2011/04/ucuz.html). Even though it is in Turkish, photos speak for themselves!:)
Posted by: Pinar | April 09, 2011 at 10:57 AM
Wow - You did have three. I haven't had that yet either. It is probably good luck!
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | April 10, 2011 at 04:41 AM