A family has said they are "amazed" to have found a 'Malteser shaped' chicken egg in their garden flock of hens."

Joshua Elkington from St Austell in Cornwall said the egg was believed to have been laid by one of his brown Bovans hens called Julie.

He said the egg is small and compared it to the size of a "generous Malteser"."

When he and his mum spotted the rare egg they were left "confused" yet they found it "hilarious"."

He added: "Our first thought was 'what was it never seen an egg like it' - we were amazed."

"Small, specifically, round eggs are a once in a billion experience. As far as science suggests."

Joshua and his mum have a garden flock of 19 chickens and came across the egg on the afternoon of April 29.

He explained this ties in with the laying cycle of their Bovans brown hens - that they believe laid this egg.

He said: "The history behind it seems for us very short lived as there is no way to make what happen happen though a fully established egg that is perfectly round could suggest the gender of what chicken would be inside, though no studies confirm this. "

"This small egg we have would likely just be egg white, and egg without its yolk and therefore another anomaly in its own."

Joshua added that they are "excited" the egg is something they can proudly show to other people."

This comes after a rare round egg was sold at Bearnes Hampton Littlewood Auctioneers in Exeter for £420.