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Breaking news: Echo Bay hen lays enormous egg

Warning: bad egg puns ahead
20170323 Goslow Large Egg submitted
An egg laid Tuesday in Echo Bay tips the scales at more than 180 grams. Submitted photo

An Echo Bay man says he got more than he expected when he went to pick eggs at his backyard chicken coop earlier this week.

Retiree Dennis Goslow and his wife Kirsti began raising chickens and ducks about five years ago and they thought they had seen the hens lay eggs of just about every size — but one egg he found Tuesday left him shell shocked.

“I went out there and picked some eggs up first thing in the morning, and gave (the chickens) water and made sure they had feed. I went back out an hour or two later to check on them and started gathering more eggs. I saw that one and was like, ‘Whoa, what is this?’” said Dennis.

In Canada, a Large chicken egg is rated at 56 grams, an Extra Large is 63 grams and a Jumbo egg weighs in at 70 grams.

The Goslows’ egg weighed in at more than 180 grams.

Although Dennis didn't watch the hen lay the egg, he doesn't figure the ordeal was over easy.

“I should have went to look for the chicken, it probably doesn’t have a butt,” Dennis quipped.

“I have had some big eggs and the ducks lay eggs too, but this was bigger than any duck egg I ever had,” he added.

Although the Goslows' egg is super-sized by any measure, when they scrambled to research the world record it fell short.

The Guinness Book of World Records lists an egg laid in Vineland, New Jersey in 1956 as the heaviest ever at 454 grams.

Kirsti said she much prefers eggs from the chickens they raise versus store bought eggs.

“They’re so much better. The yolks are orange, the eggs aren’t old — the store bought ones are old,” said Kirsti.

20170323 Dennis Goslow Large Egg KADennis Goslow of Echo Bay holds a 180-gram chicken egg that was laid on Tuesday. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday

The Goslows feed their chickens natural grain feed and treat them with corn, chicken scratch and garlic.

“They like sunflower seeds and flax,” said Dennis.

Able to roam free in a fenced-in area of the yard, Dennis said the chickens are able to find other things to eat that wouldn’t be available to caged hens, like bugs.

The couple are raising the chickens as a hobby, not for commercial purposes.

“They’re just our babies, that’s all,” said Dennis.

He said he hasn't yet hatched a plan on what to do with their super-sized egg.

“I was going to maybe open it up to see what was inside it, I just don’t know,” said Dennis.


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Kenneth Armstrong

About the Author: Kenneth Armstrong

Kenneth Armstrong is a news reporter and photojournalist who regularly covers municipal government, business and politics and photographs events, sports and features.
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