# Could you swallow a hen's egg whole and poo it out still in one piece? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953 "2003-08-13T17:22:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/21 "2003-08-13T21:19:52Z")
How large is the average duodenum? How elastic is the average duodenum? ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/22 "2003-08-13T21:43:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panache45 \* > \*\*Yes, I probably would, but my BF is used to that circumference. > > And that goes for the other end too, thank you. \*\* That’s one of the nastiest things I’ve ever read here. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/23 "2003-08-13T21:49:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Griffin \* > \*\*No, I think you’ll find in UK poop refers to a fart, and poo can be a noun or a verb. Am I right, fellow Brits? ;j \*\* Yes. ---
**Author:** ![flapcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@flapcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flapcats)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/24 "2003-08-13T22:07:56Z")
No, I mean ‘Toot’ - which isn’t really English, is it? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/25 "2003-08-13T22:49:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dnooman \* > \*\*That’s one of the nastiest things I’ve ever read here. \*\* I guess nastiness is in the eye (or whatever) of the beholder. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/26 "2003-08-13T23:29:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dnooman \* > \*\*That’s one of the nastiest things I’ve ever read here. \*\* Why? ---
**Author:** ![Wolfrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bb73d2/32.png) [@Wolfrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfrick)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/27 "2003-08-14T00:07:40Z")
My family had a collection (clutch?) of alabaster, marble and onyx eggs along with several other pieces of alabaster, from Egypt. I used to wonder whether I could swallow the eggs. They were a bit larger than chickens eggs, so I didn’t ever try the experiment. There’s a condition called “pica” where people crave and eat things generally not considered food, including dirt, clay, paint chips, ants, etc. I wonder how common it is to consider non-food items for digestion, and whether it’s simple curiosity (and weirdness) or some kind of manifestation of pica. ~Wolfrick ---
**Author:** ![Wolfrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bb73d2/32.png) [@Wolfrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfrick)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/28 "2003-08-14T00:09:42Z")
Ingestion, rather than digestion, I should have said. ~W ---
**Author:** ![smam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@smam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smam)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/29 "2003-08-14T16:07:23Z")
Just to verify egg sizes I took a trip down to the nearest farm in our area. The aged farmer took me out to the back of the barn where there was an area squared off about 8 by 9 feet and surrounded with chicken wire. While we were searching for eggs he was rambling on about how 80 or so years ago he was working on a farm (this was before he owned his own place) and let slip to one of the other farm hands that he was homosexual. There was a tear in his eye as he recounted how the ‘hand’ told all the other workers and they threw eggs at him, stripped him of his clothes and made him stand in the coop with the chickens. It took a while before I realised it but it turns out he was talking about a 1920’s style " Gay-Run ". ---
**Author:** ![frixxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@frixxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frixxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953/30 "2003-08-14T16:19:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by smam \* > \*\*It took a while before I realised it but it turns out he was talking about a 1920’s style " Gay-Run ". \*\* And now for the crossover series of scalar/gamete discussion… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-swallow-a-hens-egg-whole-and-poo-it-out-still-in-one-piece/194953.md?page=1)