A West Virginia man is laying claim to one of the world's smallest chicken eggs. Whether it's a record remains to be seen. The Reverand Donnie Russell said he found the egg last month on his farm. It's 2.1 centimetres long, or a bit bigger than a penny, and weighs 3.46 grams - a little more than one-tenth of an ounce.
'It's really something. If you want to know the truth, I can't put it into words,' Mr Russell said.
Mr Russell, of Raleigh County, said his wife is an animal lover and she's collected cats, geese, ducks, chickens and other types of birds over the years.
Normally, the chicken eggs are donated to people from the Rock Creek Community Church, where Mr Russell is the pastor.
'Lo and behind, we went out and gathered these eggs. We had to do a double take. We both looked with our mouths open for about five minutes before we said a word. We said this has got to be a record.'
The chicken that he believes laid the egg is normal sized.
'When you see something like that, you wonder how in the world did that ever happen?' Mr Russell said. 'We're still taking it in.'
The state Department of Agriculture has certified the egg's size.
Guinness World Records lists the smallest recorded chicken egg as 2.7 centimetres, although a man from Great Britain in May claimed earlier this year to having one that was 2 millimetres smaller.
Mr Russell said he's still undecided whether to make an application with Guinness. He does plan to preserve the egg, which he's named the John Spencer Russell egg in honour of his two grandsons - John Kenny Russell and Spencer Matthew Russell.
State Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass said: 'West Virginia's hills are full of surprises - we have a little bit of everything, it seems. I'm very pleased that Rev Russell and others are keeping agriculture alive in the Mountain State, and that he takes obvious pride in being a West Virginia farmer.'
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