Chicken in Echo Bay, Ont. lays massive 180 gram egg
Hen's egg is more than three times the size of a large chicken egg, potentially the largest in Canada
A hobby farmer near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. made a surprising discovery last week when he went to collect his chicken's eggs.
One of Dennis Goslow's hens has laid an egg that is 180 grams. That's heavier than a major league baseball and the size of a large apple.
"[The egg] seems to be a little bit warped," Goslow said from his home in Echo Bay, Ont. "You can imagine, the poor thing coming out. It looks like an egg, but it's a little rough."
"It was warm when I picked it up," he said.
A Canadian record
Goslow told CBC News he's never seen a chicken egg this big in his life.
In 2009, a chicken in the Ottawa area made news when it laid an egg that was 143 grams. At 180 grams, Goslow's egg might be the heaviest on Canadian record.
Unfortunately, there's no World Record title in the cards.
The record for the heaviest chicken egg in the world was reportedly laid by a hen in New Jersey, USA in 1956. That egg was 454 grams.
Is there an egg inside the egg?
Goslow, who raises a few dozen chickens in his backyard, said he isn't sure which one of his hens laid the egg.
"I was looking for the one that didn't have any butt," he said. "When I was in there it seemed like one chicken was all light and happy."
I was looking for [a chicken] that didn't have any butt.- Dennis Goslow, hobby farmer
Goslow said he is still waiting to decide what to do with the egg, but he thinks he might crack it open to see if there is another egg inside of it.
He said this particular hen might have had trouble pushing out the first egg, so another one could have formed around it.
Since some of his chickens are older, it's possible that one of the hens developed an issue producing eggs, he said.
'They're my babies'
Most farmers will usually slaughter their chickens when they reach two years old, as their egg quality tends to decrease.
But Goslow said he wouldn't consider slaughtering his own hens.
"I myself can't do that. They're my babies," he said.
"They get sick or whatever, I'll take [care of] them. I've got two of them sleeping in my office in a cage at night."
Click here to listen to Dennis Goslow's interview on CBC's northern Ontario afternoon show Up North.