IS this the smallest chicken egg in the world?

Linda Brookes made the eggs-traordinary discovery when she collected eggs from her Sebright hens Pearl and Opal at her smallholding in Penley, Wrexham.

Linda, 51, was left shell-shocked by the find.

She told the Leader: “I went out with my basket to collect the eggs and in the pen was a normal-sized egg and this tiny egg.

“We do get the odd egg that is smaller than the others but nothing like this.

“I have never seen anything like it before in my life.”

The 18-month-old pair have been producing an average egg a day during the laying season.

Linda tends to the smallholding as a hobby with receptionist daughter Rachael, 22, and husband Nigel, 54, who says there is a rational explanation for the cracking discovery.

He said: “It sounds a bit gruesome but what I think has happened is that a piece of the hen’s reproductive system has come free and has tricked her body into thinking it’s an egg – that is how the shell has formed.

“I have been doing some research on the internet and I think this could be the smallest egg in the world.

“There was a similar case in America where the egg was the size of a quarter which is equivalent to our 1p.

“But our egg is the same size as a 5p.”

The animal-loving family have until recently also cared for Shetland ponies Monty and Lucy and New Forest pony, Diana, plus three sheep called Larry, Shaun and Buster.

Now they have Cerys the Kerry Blue terrier, Puggles the Collie cross Jack Russell, Finlay the Lakeland terrier and Porky, a two-month old piglet.

They will keep their eggs-tra discovery in their home until it begins to turn rotten.