Whose eggs are these?

I love having chickens! Opens up a whole new world as I discovered a few weeks ago during my morning jobs. Looked inside the egg box to discover one normal looking egg and one tiny, mini egg. Took them both inside to show off to the rest of the family and discuss our thoughts. Well we were all pretty confused at first but thankfully google sorted us out!

Turns out these tiny, mini eggs are a natural result when a small bit of reproductive tissue or other small foreign mass enters the hen's oviduct and triggers the regular formation of an egg. Inside the hen's body, the bit of tissue or stuff is treated like a normal yolk, so it is swathed and enveloped in albumen, membranes and a shell and then eventually laid. These eggs often only contain the white of the egg and no yolk.

So while googling about our mini eggs we discovered their name has evolved over time. In folk tradition these are known as cock eggs - that is an egg laid by a rooster or cock. During the Middle Ages, they were known as Witch Egg while in the mid to late Victorian era they were Fairy Eggs. In Scotland and some parts of Europe they are known as Wind Eggs and in recent times in the US they are called Fart Eggs! Very interesting to see how language reflects cultural ideals and concerns!

I personally like mini eggs and we were treated to another mini the next morning!