12-year-old Dakota Rodgers began a project to raise a group of chickens for a couple of months, he decided to keep one and name it Big Mac.
Nine months later, Dakota's dad says the chicken is less than a pound shy of a world record.
Rodgers only intended to raise the birds for about two months as part of a 4-H Club project, then Big Mac was supposed to become someone's dinner.
"He took three of them to the Galveston County Fair and Rodeo in 2015 and got $150 for three of the chickens," said Dakota's father Darrell Rodgers.
The Rodgers also gave away many of the chickens, but one stuck around growing bigger and bigger by the day on a steady diet of corn and seed.
Nine months later, the plump poultry tips the scales at 23.47 lbs., almost double the normal size of a male broiler chicken.
Darrell Rodgers called in an official measurement crew to verify Big Mac's size.
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"Which, from my understanding, is about .72 pounds from the world record," he said.
Big Mac is still growing, which has been weighing on the father and son team.
"Not to raise chickens any more," said Dakota Rodgers. "You gotta come out early and feed him and change his water."
"l learned my son does not like to get up in the morning to go feed these things," said Darrell Rodgers with a chuckle.
While Dakota calls "fowl" on waking up early, his dad says it's a firsthand lesson in responsibility.
Friendswood is just south of Houston, Texas.
