No wonder Lucy the hen looks so glum - she has laid the largest egg her owners have ever seen

"I've never seen one like that before," said owner John Robinson, who runs Kingsthorpe Eggs, in Pickering.

He said that in all his 30 years in the business, this was the largest yet.

"In my experience I haven't seen an egg that size before. You sometimes get large eggs, but they are usually broken."

He is now wondering if it is some sort of record.

John's mother, Mildred Robinson, is a partner in the business. She said: "I've seen eggs for nearly 50 years and I've never seen one as big. I nearly died." The egg, which was too heavy for the scales, measured approximately eight centimetres long and five-and-a-half centimetres wide and, although Lucy is known for laying pretty large eggs, John said: "We won't eggsploit her capabilities." John said the simplest explanation for the large eggs is that Lucy is well looked after and she is trying to do her best for the people who look after her.