Keen young farmer Craig Evans got in touch with the Irish Farmers Journal over the weekend to tell us that he thinks his hen laid one of the biggest eggs Ireland has ever seen.

One of Craig’s 31 hens laid the egg last Tuesday at his family’s farm in Ballymanus, outside Aughrim, Co Wicklow.

16-year-old Craig Evans with the giant egg and his hen.

The egg, seen below, is 9cm long, 5cm wide, has a circumference of 16cm and a weight of 117g. The average hen egg weighs between 50g and 70g.

Sixteen-year-old Craig, a transition year student, says he “can’t find a record of a bigger egg anywhere else” and is looking to lay his claim to Ireland’s ‘biggest egg’ title.

Craig's egg honesty box, part of his 'Ranchers Eggs' enterprise.

“I looked it up to see out of interest and I couldn’t find a bigger one.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. I’ll hold on to it for the minute and we’ll see then,” he said.

Enterprise

In February 2022, Craig bought himself his first six pullets and has grown his flock of Rhode Island Red hybrids to 31 today.

Craig says his hens lay about an egg a day.

He sells his eggs out of two honesty boxes, one at his home place and another at the farm, 2km down the road. The enterprise is called Ranchers Eggs.

The eggs sell for €2 for a half dozen and €3.80 for a dozen.

“I’m definitely interested in keeping it going and I’ll see how it all goes in time.

The giant egg compared with a regular egg and a coin.

“If I start selling more eggs, I’ll get more chickens, but we were sold out for two weeks there before I got the last six pullets.

“It’s mostly locals buying them, but you have people coming from a distance as well,” Craig said.

Well done to this young Wicklow farmer. Keep up the good work!