This is a subscriber-only article
The Irish Farmers Journal has heard from a new challenger for Ireland’s largest hen egg.
John O’Brien of Linsnagry, Co Limerick, says his Blackrock hen laid an egg with a weight of 124g.
It nears the current record of an egg with a weight of 127g, submitted by Mona Muller from Glendree Organic Farm in Co Clare.
The egg contest started when Wicklow's 16-year-old Craig Evans got in touch in early March after his hen laid an egg with a weight of 117g. Evans ended up on The Late Late Show to tell the tale.
Fourteen-year-old O’Brien, who runs a successful egg business alongside his family’s dairy farm, read the article about Evans, just days after his own discovery.
“I came upon the giant egg and I saw the Irish Farmers Journal article a few days later. That one was 117g and when I weighed my own egg it was 124g.
“I was very excited. All I know is that it was a Blackrock hen, a well mature one,” he said.
Eggs for sale
The second-year student at Castletroy College said he has about 50 hens - Rhode Island red hybrids and the Blackrocks.
“I sell my eggs to lots of friends and family. They go for €2.50 for a half dozen,” he said.
O’Brien said the giant egg will be kept as an ornament, one which he is very proud of.
SHARING OPTIONS: