Lucky farmer left shell-shocked after hen lays perfectly spherical egg
A LUCKY chicken farmer was left shell-shocked after his hen laid a super-rare round egg.
Alex Gingell, 53, made the one-in-a-billion discovery during a daily sweep of his pen.
He went to check up on his eight rescue chickens on Saturday at his home in Pinewood, Bucks.
There he plucked a spherical creation that is smaller than a golf ball, at around 2cm in diameter.
Dressage coach Alex has been keeping hens, which he calls “little ladies” for a year and a half.
He posed proudly with his hen’s offering outside his pen at the weekend.
Alex said: “Well I would have preferred to win the lottery – but it looks like I’ve been really lucky.
“I’d consider selling it, others have gone for hundreds of pounds online.
“But I think I’ll eat it in the end. My hens produce some quality eggs.
I’ll look forward to frying it!
“I call my chickens my little ladies, and I sing to them every day.
“I’ve noticed some of my eggs coming out with funny markings, but I’ve never seen anything like this.
“When I googled it, I discovered that chances were as low as one in a billion.”
Round eggs, said to be “one in a billion” due to their rarity among a huge amount laid in the UK daily, have previously sold for up to £480 on eBay.
In August Ed Pownall, of Lambourn, Berks, forked out £150 for a round egg “after a few pints”.
The egg was sent to him by courier from Scotland after a woman found it in a supermarket box.
Last year, a spherical egg sold in Australia for a whopping £800 ($1,400).