# Double yolks in eggs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292 "2000-02-14T15:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KenP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c0e974/32.png) [@KenP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenP)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/1 "2000-02-14T15:05:00Z")
Why do some eggs have double yolks? Also, we have seen more double yolks in the last year than ever before. Is this a trend? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/2 "2000-02-14T15:08:00Z")
More and more chicken farms are being located next to nuclear reactors because of the cheaper land costs. ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/3 "2000-02-14T15:14:00Z")
I noticed more double yolk eggs when I started buying eggs at Trader Joe’s. (Much better price than the supermarket. Shameless plug, but I love the store.) They come from New England Egg Farms (I’m in the NYC-Long Island area) Usually it’s the jumbos that are double yolked; I have no idea why. Does that mean more cholesterol? And since I can’t remember which part becomes the chicken, does it mean bigger chicks, fatter chicks, or just more leftovers? The world needs to know. ---
**Author:** ![Feelgood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@Feelgood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feelgood)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/4 "2000-02-14T15:37:00Z")
Since cholesterol is located in the yolks, yes, they would have more cholesterol. Also, the eggs you eat are infertile. If they were fertile, I guess it would pose some kind of problem for the developing embryo. Two yolks means less albumin (the white, clear stuff), and that albumin has to be there for some reason. If I recall correctly, the albumin is mostly protein. I guess the yolk is mostly a high energy shake, and the albumin is where the chick gets its necessary amino acids for development. Just a WAG–anybody else want to take a shot at this? ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/5 "2000-02-14T15:39:00Z")
Could it necessarily mean twin chicks if fertilized? * * * -Dragwyr “If God had meant for man to eat waffles, he would have given him lips like snowshoes” -Rev. Billy C. Wirtz ---
**Author:** ![frolix8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@frolix8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frolix8)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/6 "2000-02-14T15:42:00Z")
Two yolks, if they are fertile, will produce 2 chicks from 1 egg. It is similar to twins. They seem to occur more often in chickens that get more feed than they need, which doesn’t happen much in factory egg farms. Ours were free range. Their favorite food was the undigested grain in cow patties. ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/7 "2000-02-14T15:43:00Z")
Maybe I should have speculated that you’d get twin (or siamese!) chicks from a double-yolk egg. As to the cholesterol level, I just had breakfast, two eggs, one a single, the other a double. The double yolks were each smaller than the single yolk, though the total of the two yolks may be a bit more than the single, I don’t think it was twice that. (I was too hungry to weigh them.) * * * Then we’ll turn our tommy guns on the screaming ravaged nuns and the peoples voice will be the only sound. -P. Sky ---
**Author:** ![NickyLarson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@NickyLarson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickyLarson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/8 "2000-02-14T15:45:00Z")
Maybe I should type faster. :o But any thoughts on siamese? * * * Then we’ll turn our tommy guns on the screaming ravaged nuns and the peoples voice will be the only sound. -P. Sky ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/9 "2000-02-14T16:05:00Z")
## How soon we forget, double yolks don’t mean twins. the yolk is the food not the embryo, means slightly more cholesteral,heavier faster growing chick at beginning of life. Go here, where you will see that the links support my insighted uncited post. Some breeds tend toward doubles more than others. If there is a market for doubles I am sure somebody is purposly trying to produce them , have their chickens produce them that is. [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/003733.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/003733.html) Nicky, a double is just usually bigger anyway so there would tend to be more in the jumbo class. Also most doubles are culled out,sent to industrial users. Since they are “less desirable” they are cheaper,they might be more common at " discount" outlets. No,Ken it is not a trends,just a fad. As Popyeye once said, " Yolkyolkyolkyolkyolk" “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![sixseatport](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sixseatport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sixseatport)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/10 "2000-02-14T16:55:00Z")
Wait a second. Feelgood said something about “IF they were fertilized.” I thought the eggs HAD to be fertilized before the hen could lay them – that’s why occasionally you hear about finding blood or a bit of fetal chicken inside. I know people who lived on farms who insist that “of _course_ all eggs are fertilized.” So which is it? Fertilized or unfertilized? ---
**Author:** ![Wicked\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wicked\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wicked_Blue)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/11 "2000-02-14T17:06:00Z")
An egg does not have to be fertilized in order for it to be laid. My pet cockatiel lays an egg every month, and she is a solitary bird. It has to have something to do with fertility cycles. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzy-wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b38774/32.png) [@fuzzy-wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzy-wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/12 "2000-02-14T17:06:00Z")
Mjollnir–not true about the nuclear reactor…I’m sitting a couple of hundred feet of concrete from one…and no chicken houses in sight * * * “Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda - Senior Intern to El Presidente Self-Righteous Clique \* ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/13 "2000-02-14T17:09:00Z")
I think we need a review on the “birds and bees”? Or, did we think we knew it all? Yes, the egg laid has to do with menstral cycles. I didn’t know that hens were advanced enough to self-fertilize their eggs prior to laying! (Gives new meaning to getting laid, huh?) ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/14 "2000-02-14T17:11:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by fuzzy-wuzzy: > \*\*Mjollnir–not true about the nuclear reactor…I’m sitting a couple of hundred feet of concrete from one…and no chicken houses in sight > \*\* Oh, Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy! We hold so much hope, and yet there is so little time! ---
**Author:** ![sixseatport](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sixseatport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sixseatport)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/15 "2000-02-14T17:42:00Z")
Okay, so chicken eggs (like the ones sold at the grocery story) are not fertilized. What about the ones that have blood or bits of flesh in them? ---
**Author:** ![frolix8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@frolix8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frolix8)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/16 "2000-02-14T20:45:00Z")
According to this article: [http://www.psa.uiuc.edu/toc/abs/97/Jun97ab901.html](http://www.psa.uiuc.edu/toc/abs/97/Jun97ab901.html) it says: Body weight and muscle characteristics of 18- to 20-d-old broiler strain embryos developing in double yolk eggs (DY) that contained **one embryo and one infertile ovum** were compared with embryos in single yolk eggs (SY). Just because it is possible to have single chicks from a DY egg doesn’t mean the other option is impossible. In fact, since they explicitly state that a single embryo develops that implies to me that sometimes both do. The yolk is the ovum, if both ovums are fertile they both should attempt to develop. Is there something preventing this from happening? ---
**Author:** ![InutilisVisEst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d2c977/32.png) [@InutilisVisEst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InutilisVisEst)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/17 "2000-02-14T21:26:00Z")
My grandfather’s “male” macaw lived a happy life of isolation, yet (amidst an enormous racket) surprised my granparents one night by laying an (equally enormous) egg. “Girls will be boys and boys will be girls,” even amongst our avian friends… More than you ever wanted to know about chicken eggs, confirming that they need not be fertilized. Oh, and blood, feathers or even an entire bird in your egg doesn’t necessarily mean the rooster picked the lock on the henhouse, at least as far as turkeys are concerned. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/18 "2000-02-15T00:44:00Z")
My brother-in law used to work on an egg farm. DY’s were culled at the candling station and sold at a **higher** price than the others. They were boiled, pickled, and wound up in bars in Manhattan. Honest. Lawyers ate 'em. 🙂 Peace, mangeorge * * * I only know two things; I know what I need to know And I know what I want to know Mangeorge, 2000 ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2000, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/19 "2000-02-15T02:29:00Z")
The yolk isn’t the ovum; however, the ovum is on the boundary between the yolk and the white. Two yolk = possibility of two ova = possible twins. And yes, there is a possibility of siamese chicks - my great-grandmother used to tell me about one that hatched on the farm she lived on as a child. The chick had an extra pair of legs on the back that would “walk” at the same time the supporting legs did. * * * …in a state so nonintuitive it can only be called weird… ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292/20 "2000-02-16T05:38:00Z")
On the subject of whether or not eggs need to be fertilized, or more specifically why some eggs develop maturing embryos… Chickens don’t need to get laid to lay (as has already been stated). However, many farmers feel that having a rooster around increases egg production. (I don’t know if it’s true.) So, some eggs will get fertilized, though probably not all. Doesn’t really matter, though. They all scramble just the same. * * * _What’s another word for euphemism?_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-yolks-in-eggs/7292.md?page=2)