01 August 2019

Six consecutive double-yolked eggs. What are the odds? - Updated


Nothing on the package label to indicate double-yolking.  Still have six more in the container for later this week...

Addendum:  Three of the remaining six were also double-yolked.  Reader Trixie offers a logical scientific explanation in her comment.

14 comments:

  1. We have 5 chickens. One day three of them layed double yolkers. Fed the same food that day as everyday...no idea what causes it 🥚🍳

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  2. The short answer is not a rare as you would think.

    The long one relates to the average age of a flock and the size of the eggs you're buying. This old BBC article outlines it nicely, with the disappointment of not actually answering the question fully.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16118149

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  3. i can't wait for your next breakfast!

    I-)

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  4. Whoa... Those must be some kind of over achieving chickens.

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  5. I once had a dozen all double-yolked (I think; one of the eggs broke between when I bought the dozen and when I cracked the egg). I chronicled it on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkxup_xHzHs/

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  6. A carton of eggs I got recently came with an explanatory note—there's a specific age at which hens are likely to lay double-yolked eggs, and most hens in a flock are around the same age, so double-yoked eggs happen all at once.

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    Replies
    1. Excellent, Trixie. That certainly makes sense.

      (or should I say "eggscellent...")

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  7. Went to peel a hard-boiled egg this AM ~ it was double yoked!! Made me smile ~

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    Replies
    1. Wow, I've never seen that! But there are lots of them on Google Image Search. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=double-yolked+hardboiled+egg&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&oq=&tbm=isch

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  8. Er, dumb Q: What happens if a double-yolk is fertilized? Will the cracked egg disgorge twin chicks?

    Lurker111

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    Replies
    1. Good question, so I Googled it for you. Here's the best answer I found -
      "If both yolks are fertilised and then wrapped up in one shell, it is possible for two chicks to then develop within the same shell. But the conditions within that egg would not be optimal for the development of each chick. For example, there would generally be less albumin per chick, a reduced surface area to volume ratio for the egg (for diffusion of gases), and less room for storage of wastes. Nevertheless, it is possible for both chicks to develop through to hatching.

      If only one yolk is fertilised, the one chick may theoretically be able to utilise the nutrients in the second yolk late in development (not early on because it is separated by multiple membranes) and become larger than expected at hatching. But there are likely other drivers, hormonal and behavioural, for the chick to hatch at the 21 days mark, rather than simply running out of food.

      It's also possible in reptiles, for two hatchlings to emerge from one egg. But it's not very common."

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  9. are there any cases of three or more yolks in an egg???

    I-)

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