# Egg size and egg makeup **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2021, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205 "2021-07-11T11:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/1 "2021-07-11T11:02:26Z")
Is the proportion of egg yolks to egg white the same for a small chicken egg as it is with a large or jumbo chicken egg? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/2 "2021-07-11T11:33:47Z")
I’ve never done a measurement, but I bake a lot using backyard eggs from my neighbors (so I have a variety of random sizes in the cartons) and my observation has been that the yolks or larger eggs are larger. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/4 "2021-07-11T13:09:18Z")
As are the whites, but are the proportions of one to the other the same? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/5 "2021-07-11T13:22:07Z")
Next time I’m making something with six eggs, I will separate the yolks and whites measure the volumes and record it. Then I’ll do it again with another six eggs at some later point and compare the ratios. You might be waiting a few months for the results. I did ask a professional baker (30 years experience and bakes every day) but apparently she doesn’t count eggs, she measures them by volume. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/6 "2021-07-11T13:56:15Z")
The really big eggs have 2 yolks. Dunno about the yolk/white ratio. Curiously, the double yolk eggs often come from very young hens who haven’t been laying for long. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/7 "2021-07-11T15:06:31Z")
I think the answer is yes. If you consider that the majority of fat is in the yolk and the majority of protein is in the whites, then there is data for eggs that gives : Ratio of fat to protein in (_Weight Ratios, Not Volume Ratios_ ): Small Eggs = 5/7 → _0.71_ Medium Eggs = 4/6 → _0.67_ Large Eggs = 5/6 → _0.83_ Extra Large Eggs = 5/7 → _0.71_ Jumbo Eggs = 6/8 → _0.75_ Interestingly, there is a peak for large eggs. The above is assuming that the densities of the yellows and whites remain consistent among different sizes. The data is taken from : > **[Egg Nutrition Facts - American Egg Board](https://www.incredibleegg.org/nutrition/egg-nutrition-facts)** > > EGG NUTRITION FACTS LABELS The Nutrition Facts label for packaged foods helps people make more informed food choices.  These labels provide information about the calories and nutrients in different sizes of eggs.  The % Daily Value (DV)... ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/8 "2021-07-12T02:27:46Z")
Egg makeup? Talk about egg on your face… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/9 "2021-07-12T03:35:02Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Curiously, the double yolk eggs often come from very young hens who haven’t been laying for long. I believe the same is true of human twins, triplets, etc. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/10 "2021-07-12T04:06:52Z")
I thought it was the other way around – I thought humans tended to have more multiple births as mothers get older (and not because of reproductive aids/drugs.) [U. Professors find link between age, multiple births - The Brown Daily Herald](https://www.browndailyherald.com/2018/09/19/u-professors-find-link-age-multiple-births/#:~:text=Study%20shows%20older%20women%20are,in%20black%20women%20with%20age). > Prior to the study, medical researchers already knew that childbearing at later ages was linked to multiple births, but it was not recognized as a main factor, Adashi said. > > In the past, the occurrence of multiple births was attributed to drugs that increase ovulation, Gutman said. Before ovulation-inducing drugs were approved, there was a parabolic relationship between age and producing twins. This shows that age has been a factor even without the in-vitro fertilization practices currently, he added. (Though there, it seems the “parabolic” relationship would mean younger and older mothers both are more likely to give birth to multiples than women in the middle of their childbearing years.) ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/11 "2021-07-12T06:53:07Z")
I thought this thread was going to be about clowns. 🤡 ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/12 "2021-07-12T13:56:13Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > The really big eggs have 2 yolks. Dunno about the yolk/white ratio. Curiously, the double yolk eggs often come from very young hens who haven’t been laying for long. Totally off the OPs subject, and now that I think about it, I’m not sure how chicken egg fertilization works. Are the eggs fertilized way before they form into the egg as we know it? Are there ever double-yolked fertilized eggs? Two baby chicks in one egg? ---
**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:** [July 12, 2021, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/13 "2021-07-12T15:30:46Z")
Fertilisation happens before the shell is formed. Although the yolk isn’t exactly the bit that turns into the chick (it’s food for the developing embryo - which starts as a little patch of cells attached to the membrane surrounding the yolk), apparently there are cases of fertilised double yolk eggs - usually one embryo outcompetes the other and only one survives. Very rarely, two chicks can hatch from one egg. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/14 "2021-07-12T15:53:04Z")
A reasonable approach, but it looks like the numbers you’re using for inputs are rounded to a single significant digit, and to that level of precision, I don’t think it’s really possible to distinguish between any of those ratios. As an aside, what are those numbers? I would have guessed that they were grams of fat and grams of protein, but then how are the numbers the same for small and extra large? ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/15 "2021-07-12T20:34:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A reasonable approach, but it looks like the numbers you’re using for inputs are rounded to a single significant digit, and to that level of precision, I don’t think it’s really possible to distinguish between any of those ratios. Agreed on the precision. Nutrition labels are allowed an error of +/- 20% However, I do believe that there maybe a pattern here deserving a full scientific investigation. > [@Chronos](#): > > As an aside, what are those numbers? I would have guessed that they were grams of fat and grams of protein, but then how are the numbers the same for small and extra large? I made a typo with the small eggs which should be - Small Eggs = 3.5/5 → _0.70_ Here is the source nutrition label for each number : > **[small-tabular.pdf](https://www.incredibleegg.org/wp-content/themes/AEGGB/assets/pdf/small-tabular.pdf)** > > 125.48 KB > **[medium-tabular.pdf](https://www.incredibleegg.org/wp-content/themes/AEGGB/assets/pdf/medium-tabular.pdf)** > > 127.23 KB > **[large-tabular.pdf](https://www.incredibleegg.org/wp-content/themes/AEGGB/assets/pdf/large-tabular.pdf)** > > 157.82 KB > **[extra-large-tabular.pdf](https://www.incredibleegg.org/wp-content/themes/AEGGB/assets/pdf/extra-large-tabular.pdf)** > > 135.72 KB > **[jumbo-tabular.pdf](https://www.incredibleegg.org/wp-content/themes/AEGGB/assets/pdf/jumbo-tabular.pdf)** > > 132.66 KB ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/16 "2021-07-13T14:11:05Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Fertilisation happens before the shell is formed. Although the yolk isn’t exactly the bit that turns into the chick (it’s food for the developing embryo - which starts as a little patch of cells attached to the membrane surrounding the yolk), apparently there are cases of fertilised double yolk eggs - usually one embryo outcompetes the other and only one survives. Very rarely, two chicks can hatch from one egg. Thanks for the info. I knew that the yolk was food for the chick. I just wasn’t sure about the rest of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/17 "2021-07-18T16:18:09Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Egg makeup? Talk about egg on your face… I was thinking that eggs were too young to use makeup. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/18 "2021-07-18T16:24:05Z")
Bring it up with the clown union… > **[How Do You Copyright a Clown Face? Paint It On an Egg](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/gallery-london-houses-dozens-clown-egg-portraits-180968914/)** > > Since the 1940s, eggs have been the canvas of choice for registering performers' unique makeup designs ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/19 "2021-07-18T16:35:02Z")
Nice. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/20 "2021-07-18T16:45:29Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > I thought this thread was going to be about clowns. 🤡 > [@snfaulkner](#): > > Bring it up with the clown union… FINALLY! ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-size-and-egg-makeup/946205/21 "2021-07-18T18:16:00Z")
My uncle owned a chicken farm that sold eggs to a hatchery. We used a scale to grade eggs. Too small or Too big were culls. The hatchery wouldn’t take them. A lot of the big eggs 🥚 had double yolks. Our entire extended family enjoyed free eggs in our kitchens. I remember my grandmother would use one double yolk egg in a recipe that called for two store bought.