# Double yolked eggs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2008, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870 "2008-04-11T11:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/1 "2008-04-11T11:04:00Z")
I just had one of these, the first in a very very long while. At one time they used to be fairly common but no longer, why is that? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/2 "2008-04-11T11:14:03Z")
According to my ex, who grew up on a farm in Ireland, double yolks are more common from older hens. I am guessing that modern farming techniques mean that hens rarely reach the chicken version of old age, so they’re not as common - but free range techniques have reintroduced longevity in laying hens. There might, of course, be a machine that checks for them and rejects them, though. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/3 "2008-04-11T11:16:39Z")
But aren’t hen layers raised in different and better conditions than those raised for the table. And why would a machine reject them, assuming there is such a gadget ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/4 "2008-04-11T11:22:45Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] There might, of course, be a machine that checks for them and rejects them, though. [/QUOTE] I believe this is the case - the grading process includes (or _can_ include) _candling_ - where a bright light is shone through the eggs - defective ones are diverted off the line and end up being used for other things - as an ingredient in foods (incl pet foods), cosmetics, etc… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/5 "2008-04-11T12:15:18Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] But aren’t hen layers raised in different and better conditions than those raised for the table. [/QUOTE] [You must be joking.](http://www.aact.org.au/battery_hens.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Purgatory\_Creek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Purgatory\_Creek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purgatory_Creek)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/6 "2008-04-11T12:36:07Z")
I think **jjimm** ’s ex might be onto something. Even laying chickens aren’t kept around long in commercial egg operations because they tend to lay fewer eggs as they age. Double-yolked eggs are lucky, though, especially when combined with a rasher of bacon. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/7 "2008-04-11T12:37:12Z")
I used to buy Jumbo eggs at the supermarket, I believe the brand might have been Debbie’s. Out of each dozen I’d find 4-6 had double yokes. We moved about 4 years ago and the same market chain, at a different location, doesn’t stock that brand. I still buy Jumbos, but have never found a double yoke in this other brand. Perhaps the plant processing Debbie’s Jumbos didn’t consider a double yoke a defect and the plant processing the new brand does? I miss my double yokes. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/8 "2008-04-11T12:51:09Z")
There’s a restaurant in Chicago, Lou Mitchell’s, that used to advertise that they used _only_ double-yolked eggs, so I assume there must be a way of getting them. I’ve never eaten there, but I remember seeing their ads. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/9 "2008-04-11T13:04:01Z")
When I was a kid, in the '50s, we got all our chickens and eggs from a local farmer. Everything back then was what we’d call today “free range.” Double yolks were fairly common, and I remember a few triple yolks as well. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/10 "2008-04-11T13:06:04Z")
**chowder** , I apologise for my “You must be joking” comment. I should have said “You must be yolking.” Eggsetera. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/11 "2008-04-11T13:30:39Z")
Ok. I know a lady who used to be an egg-checker. They do have machines that do that now. Double-yolked eggs are sold for more than single-yolked eggs. Don’t know where you buy them, but there it is. Before said machines were invented/put into use, there were people who would hold each egg (or at least a percentage of the eggs) to a light to check for double yolks. My friend who used to do this mentioned that the double-yolked eggs were worth more, so they were pulled out and set aside. I am sure you could do a bit of research to find out where/how to buy the double-yolked eggs. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/12 "2008-04-11T13:39:03Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] **chowder** , I apologise for my “You must be joking” comment. I should have said “You must be yolking.” Eggsetera. [/QUOTE] That cracked me up ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/13 "2008-04-11T13:48:36Z")
On review, what **litoris** said. Double-yolked eggs are more valuable, they’re not going to just give them away with the ordinary ones if they can help it! ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/14 "2008-04-11T14:18:32Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] According to my ex, who grew up on a farm in Ireland, double yolks are more common from older hens. [/QUOTE] Interesting. I used to raise chickens (a loong time ago) and found that double-yolk eggs were reasonably common as a hen got started laying. She would then settle down to single-yolk eggs. Our hens never got the chance to grow old! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/15 "2008-04-11T14:34:06Z")
[Soulard Market](http://soulardmarket.com) has a vendor selling double-yolked, and sometimes triple-yolked!, eggs; I imagine many farmers’ markets have people doing that. They’re more expensive than the regular kind. Another victim of overall cheapitude of the populace, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/16 "2008-04-11T16:01:45Z")
Paging **Pullet**!! ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/17 "2008-04-11T18:46:43Z")
We live near an Amish area, and one year when I was buying chickens I bought this lot of scrawny, half-featherless hens that looked like Leghorns (thin, white, red combs). I thought turning them out onto our lot to free range would fatten them up and get them healthier looking. They never did look any better, but they all laid double, and even triple yolked eggs. The problem was, that the eggs wouldn’t fit into a regular cardboard/styrofoam egg carton – they were too wide and too tall. I’m sure that packaging/shipping would be a problem for odd-sized eggs, so a egg place might only sell those locally. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/18 "2008-04-11T21:16:52Z")
Is it possible for a multiple-yoked egg to be fertile? Has there ever been a case of more than one bird hatching from a single egg? ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/19 "2008-04-11T21:37:46Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Is it possible for a multiple-yoked egg to be fertile? Has there ever been a case of more than one bird hatching from a single egg? [/QUOTE] Co-joined chicks! The coolest pet evar! 🙂🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870/20 "2008-04-11T21:46:04Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] That cracked me up [/QUOTE] That got scrambled in the telling. Still, I’m hard-boiled enough to accept that it’s better than poaching other people’s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolked-eggs/444870.md?page=2)