A MIDDLEWICH mum made an egg-straordinary discovery when she paid a visit to her coop yesterday morning, August 8.

When Wendy Johnson, 53, spied a rather large egg in her basket, she was not alarmed as one of her three hens 'Loopy' Lou Lou often laid big eggs.

However, when she took a closer look, she was amazed to find the little Lou Lou had laid an egg inside an egg.

The mum-of-three, and grandma-of-one, said: "I was a bit shocked. I had turned around after I collected the eggs and when I turned back the dog had put his head in and damaged one of the eggs.

"It looked a bit strange and when I took a closer look I saw the egg inside.  I couldn't quite believe it."

The egg inside was intact and both eggs contained yolks and whites.

A double egg is an egg-stremely rare occurence and Douglas Russell, writing in The New Scientist, said that the phenomenon 'has attracted specific scholarly attention for hundreds of years'.

The Zoology curator, from The Natural History Museum, also offered an explanation for the ocuurence.  

He added:  "A series of abnormal contractions could force a complete or semi-complete egg back up the oviduct, and should this egg meet another developing egg travelling normally down the oviduct, the latter can engulf the former; more simply, another layer of albumen and shell can form around the original egg."

Wendy decided to scramble both of the eggs together for tasty snack for the family.

Can you think of an egg-cellent headline? If you can, post it below. 

Have you got a cracking story like Wendys?  Have one of your hens laid a mutant egg? Contact the Middlewich Guardian on 01606 813 623.