A chicken surprised her owners by laying a massive egg four times larger than normal.
Popples, a two-year-old Rhode Island Red, laid the supersize egg measuring 5ins high, 8ins round and weighing 6.6 ounces.
Schoolgirl Harriet Whitaker, 8, discovered the egg when she made her daily check of the family’s chicken run, in Portsmouth.
She said: “I’ve never seen an egg that size before. I thought an ostrich had been into the run overnight.”
The youngster has even taken the egg into school to show to her friends, who were equally amazed.
Mum Teresa, 36, said: “Poor Popples must have been eggs-hausted and in pain after laying such a massive egg. I fed the chickens some scraps from our roast dinner the day before, so perhaps the cauliflower, broccoli and sprouts gave her a boost. I was amazed when Harriet first showed me the egg. She came running into the kitchen so excited.
I said ‘oh my gosh - that must have been painfu. It’s the biggest chicken egg I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure what we will do with it yet but it will make a very large and tasty omelette.”