Pity The Chicken That Laid This Egg Inside An Egg

Pity The Chicken That Laid This Egg Inside An Egg

This isn’t a miraculous occurrence or a trick. But it is very rare.

The technical term for the process of a chicken incubating an egg inside another egg is called a counter-peristalsis contraction. Basically, an egg that wasn’t quite ready went back up inside the hen’s reproductive assembly line and another egg formed around it. This is what a chicken’s oviduct looks like:

Pity The Chicken That Laid This Egg Inside An Egg
1 Infundibulum, 2 Magnum, 3 Isthmus, 4 Uterus, 5 Vagina with egg inside. Photo: Wikipedia

1 Infundibulum, 2 Magnum, 3 Isthmus, 4 Uterus, 5 Vagina with egg inside. Photo: Wikipedia

 

Under normal circumstances, a hen ovulates and releases an oocyte that travels through the oviduct forming the yoke. It collects layers of membranes and albumen along its way through the reproductive track and develops its white. Finally, it forms the shell in the uterus.

But in rare circumstances, another ovulation occurs before the first egg is fully formed and the first egg is sucked back up into the beginning stage of the oviduct. This second egg forms itself through through the usual process and just makes room to encapsulate the first egg. Next thing you know, a very large egg is pushed through the cloaca.

The YouTuber that uploaded this video writes that his hen is fine but they were afraid to eat the egg. For the record, if this once in a lifetime occurrence happens to you, both eggs should be normal.

[Reddit]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.