The hen that laid an egg shaped like a light bulb
Rural electrification brought many benefits. But one of its stranger effects occurred on the Kentucky farm of Albert Clark in 1939. One of his hens stared and stared at the new light bulb hanging in the hen house, as if hypnotized by it. Then she laid an egg shaped like a light bulb. Clark sent the egg to the Rural Electrification Administration in D.C. as proof of what had occurred. This was big news in 1939.
Comments
Ah... 1939 was before Google, right?
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 02/10/15 at 10:11 AM
That is one big egg for a hen to lay!
Posted by ScoutC on 02/10/15 at 12:08 PM
The Great Auk always laid eggs shaped like that. Kept 'em from rolling off the cliff ledges where they nested.
Posted by tadchem on 02/10/15 at 01:04 PM
This sounds like a twist on the old wife's tales about how scaring a pregnant woman will cause a birth defect. I wonder if Clark had any children and what they looked like. Did his wife stare at the cows for long periods of time?
Posted by KDP on 02/10/15 at 02:55 PM
Wish they would have had the hen stare at a doughnut.
Posted by crc on 02/10/15 at 03:44 PM
Tadchem, I googled great auk egg, and while they're pointier than hen's eggs, they don't look like the egg in this story.
Posted by ges on 02/10/15 at 10:41 PM
Ok, Tad, you get into the room with reporter guy and what's'er name that ran from the sniper's bullets.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 02/11/15 at 12:37 AM
He probably sent the egg in to complain that this newfangled electricity was ruining his income by causing hens to lay unsaleable eggs. Never mind that he had to pick this one out carefully, and probably could have made a tidy sum just by charging people to see it.
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 02/11/15 at 09:21 AM
That hen is thinking out her ass.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 02/12/15 at 07:25 AM
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Category: Farming | Eggs | 1930s