25 April 2012

These came out of four chicken eggs


Would you eat the dark one?  Can you identify it?  Ponder for a moment, then see the answer below the fold...

An explanation by ChIck3n115 in the Reddit thread:
Finally, something on here my degree (Poultry Science) is useful for! It looks like the egg came from an older hen (as they get older, there is more chance of abnormalities and double yolked eggs) This is probably a blood clot from either a cut in the oviduct or a bleeding follicle that grew large enough to be treated like an egg yolk. It ended up in the oviduct and the hen coated it with albumen and shell. Things like this happen rarely, and can sometimes stay in the oviduct for extended periods of time and increase in size as the hen coats it in mucus.

The more amazing thing is that it made it through the companies quality control. Small blood spots can rarely make it past the computerized candling machine and inspectors (who watch every egg go by), but something this big should have been spotted instantly. I'm guessing it was from a small local farm?

And it is certainly not fertilization that causes this. If the egg was fertilized (
won'tshouldn't ever happen on a commercial egg farm), you would see blood vessels forming around the yolk itself and the embryo growing right on the surface.

12 comments:

  1. TIL that there is such a thing as poultry science. Do you have to stuff a lark inside a wren inside a quail inside a chicken inside a duck inside a goose inside a turkey to get your degree?
    (I don't know the relative sizes of larks, wrens, and quails, so it may be in a different order.)

    I got a double-yolked egg the day before yesterday and I was delighted because the runny yolk is my favorite part of a fried egg. It's too bad I cracked it directly into the pan, because it would have been interesting to try to poach it.

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  2. Here in Norfolk UK I can buy packs of eggs that are double yolks evrey time... how is that done?
    Terry UK
    ps I check your site evry day, keep up the good work...!

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    Replies
    1. I used to have a hen who consistently laid double yolked eggs. They were even shaped differently, more like a Zeppelin than an egg.

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    2. A double-yolked egg is more commonly seen from an older hen.

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  3. Replies
    1. It is not an egg-yolk. Read the words.

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  4. Wake up people, it's not the double yolks he's talking about. Those are pretty common. It's the BLUE one. Can't you see it? That's what you're supposed to comment about. Is it safe?

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    Replies
    1. Perhaps I should have written "These came out of four cracked chicken eggs."

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  5. For the person wondering how you get a full dozen double yolk eggs. The chicken farmer is candling them and separating them out. We put our double yolks in separate container for a sweet Italian lady that baked and wanted them to make her dishes richer. She paid extra for them as well.
    I have a question for you ChIck3n115... I just recently had an egg that I cracked open to find a "clear yolk". I am believing it is possibly the first egg from my Silkie hen born at Christmas? I have never seen this happen while raising 500 hens for eggs!!! Not sure if it happened again, as candling them does not show any deformity in the yolk!!

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    Replies
    1. sic25, to reach ChIck3n115, you'll probably have to post your question in the Reddit thread. I doubt that he/she reads this blog.

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  6. Gag...I found one of these blobs in my first ever soft-cooked egg I made at home. In all my life (55 years old) I have NEVER seen this! Glad to know I'm not the only one out there to find this LOL. Thanks for posting and explaining this oddity :)

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  7. I had a egg come out like this and opened it up and found blood inside does it mean my hen is sick

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