Just in time for April Fools' Day comes a "news story" that chickens in the City of West Linn in Oregon are laying square eggs.
The convincing fib published in the website of the city's community newspaper, the Lake Oswego Review, said retirees Glen and Rose Ek "have been raising chickens and selling the (square) eggs on their Ek Road farm for a very long time".
The story with the headline, "- Square eggs ruffle feathers -", even came with realistic looking photos of five square eggs in a nest. It was published March 25 and written by someone named "Doug Dickston".
The story alleges chickens owned by the Eks first began laying the square eggs in early March. It said Rose suspects this may have been the result of her switching to a new kind of feed brand called "Floral Poi" she'd never used before.
She claimed her chickens began laying the square eggs not long after they began feeding on Floral Poi.
"There are certain advantages to square eggs," said Rose in the story. "They take less space to store and ship, so we might be able to reduce our carbon footprint."
Rose also notes that there's not as much breakage since square eggs won't roll off a counter. The story noted the eggs are in high demand, "and with the supply limited, Rose has been asking $12 per dozen, a hefty price for fresh eggs but worth it to many buyers looking for the unusual".
It all reads pretty convincingly but what gave it away as an April Fools' gag was a sentence saying anyone "interested in buying some, the best chance for purchase will be next Wednesday, April Fool's Day".
Other giveaways that this incredible story was an April Fools' hoax is that not a single reader Liked, Shared or Tweeted it despite the story having a huge "Wow!" factor. An eye-opening story like this would have made it to Google News or been picked-up by large media outlets. None of that happened.
Also, Floral Poi isn't a type of chicken feed but a type of dress. The writer, Doug Dickston, isn't on the list of reporters of the Lake Oswego Review. And that's one suspicious family name, Doug.
You can read the original story at http://pamplinmedia.com/lor/54-my-community/254556-124153--square-eggs-ruffle-feathers-