Double Yolked Eggs - Are Two Yolks Better Than One?
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My mom called last night to tell me she'd peeled a hard boiled egg and it had two yolks. (That's her egg in the picture below.)
I've never seen a double yolk egg myself and I was curious how common it is so I decided to do a little research on the topic.
I found an explanation of the double yolk phenomenon:
Double Yolkers appear when ovulation occurs too rapidly, or when one yolk somehow gets "lost" and is joined by the next yolk. Double yolkers may be by a pullet whose productive cycle is not yet well synchronized. They're occasionally laid by a heavy-breed hen, often as an inherited trait.
On that site you'll also find descriptions of other egg oddities. Who knew you could have no yolkers, double shelled eggs, eggs without shells, spoon shaped eggs, eggs with tails, wormy eggs, triple yolkers, and even a nine yolker? Yikes!
About 1 in 1000 eggs has a double yolk so it isn't all that rare. In some countries, markets sell cartons of double yolked eggs.
Throughout history and in different cultures, finding a double yolk has been considered to mean anything from an impending wedding to a financial windfall to a death in the family.
So would a double yolked egg produce twins? Probably not:
... the presence of the two yolks would generally lead to an unsuccessful hatch. The nutritional value of the egg white, which is an important food supply for the embryo is insufficient for the two embyros.
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I just had two eggs in one carton with double yolked eggs!!! My first two ever!!! :)))
hey there is a place in baltimore where all they sell are double yolk eggs by the dozens. I was gifted 2 dozen of these brown eggs. At first I didn't understand what was so special about them. Then the first one was a shock but then I opened a second and saw the same double yolk thing. I gagged and still have the rest of them 2 months later in the fridge I cant bear to eat them who knows how they got so many to have double yolk.
I just opened 5 or 6 eggs for making fried rice and they were all double yolks? Is this linked to any health problems or are they fine to eat?
I just opened 5 or 6 eggs for making fried rice and they were all double yolks? Is this linked to any health problems or are they fine to eat?
I just opened 5 or 6 eggs for making fried rice and they were all double yolks? Is this linked to any health problems or are they fine to eat?
Alex, I just noticed the same thing! Weird, they shouldn't be so common...
I haven't seen anything indicating it'd be unhealthy to eat them though. Check out http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/301983
ARIEL??????? WHERE ARE YOU??? I KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. Don't eat the eggs!!!!!!!!!!
I have only encounterd the double yolk in free range chicken eggs
I am a manager at a national chain that serves breakfast 24-7 I use aprox 360 eggs per day in the past week we've seen more double yoked eggs then single yoked aprox 300 out of the 360 eggs used have been double yoked Wow got to the point where I could tell which ones were going to be double yoked before I even cracked them!
have noticed more double
yolks in just this past
year. last carton bought
had eight.i usually remove
one yolk because of cholestoral but the're safe
to eat. is spooky though.
have noticed more double
yolks in just this past
year. last carton bought
had eight.i usually remove
one yolk because of cholestoral but the're safe
to eat. is spooky though.
Glad to see this post. because I just cracked open 4 eggs and they all have double yolks in them. I can now tell that the whole carton is filled with double yolks. Upon inspecting the eggs, I noticed that they have a little more of an oblong shape than normal.
My boyfriend and I were (humorously) preparing to cook scrambled egg whites for breakfast yesterday morning when I found a double yolk in the first egg I cracked open from of a just-purchased carton of eggs. I called my boyfriend over and we admired it. Then cracked a second egg. Another double yolk! We cracked a third, and, again, a double yolk!
At this point, we got very excited. We got out a video camera and started documenting. As suspected, the entire carton was full of double-yolked eggs. As Julie noted above, they were more oblong ("taller") than the standard store-bought egg.
I feared hormone-laden mutant hens were to blame, and suggested we conduct some Google research. My sensible boyfriend instead called the number on the egg carton and spoke to someone at the farm where the eggs came from. He asks if finding a dozen double-yolked eggs in a single carton was extraordinary (and if consuming any of said eggs would be dangerous).
The woman at the farm said that they sell cartons of double-yolked eggs, and that our carton must have resulted from collected double-yolked eggs being put accidentally into the wrong carton. (Our carton was labeled "Jumbo".) So... apparently double-yolked eggs are a thing you can buy on purpose! Who knew?
I just had my first ever double yoked egg! I had my boys come and see it and even took pictures. After reading this I'm a little disappointed thinking they aren't special as I thought. Oh, well we had fun! Thanks for the article!
I just opened a carton of off-the-shelf large eggs from Wal-Mart. Literally, half of the eggs cracked into the pan were double yolks. I don't consider this good luck or coincidence. I consider it a sign of our ever tampered-with food supply. More hormones and fertility meds to get the eggs to produce better. Yuck. I dumped them all.
Chris S....you're wrong. We raise free-range chickens. They've never had any kind of hormones or fertility shots. Two of our chickens always lay double yolk eggs. As each hen begins to lay, theirs as well are double yolk and will remain so until they're more regulated in their cycle. So, CHILL OUT!! It's just mother nature's doing...not human interference.
Chris S....you're wrong. We raise free-range chickens. They've never had any kind of hormones or fertility shots. Two of our chickens always lay double yolk eggs. As each hen begins to lay, theirs as well are double yolk and will remain so until they're more regulated in their cycle. So, CHILL OUT!! It's just mother nature's doing...not human interference.
we just bought a jumbo carton of free range eggs and the whole carton were double yolkers. this is the second time i have encountered this and hopefully not the last/ YUMMY
WsLA4K
WsLA4K
I raise organic free-ranged chickens and occasionally get double yolks from the hens that are young & new to egg laying. Sometimes it takes a while for the young hens reproductive systems to mature and get in insync. The eggs are safe to eat & chances are you've eaten a lot of them in your lifetime if you eat eggs at diners & such.
We raise our own hens too. Double yolk eggs are coming from at least one of our hens. They are great! I have to agree with others that it is a bonus and our chickens are raised in a natural environment so just a fluke and not part of a hormonal, anti-biotic, large farm. I will have to pay attention to the shape and see if I can start to tell ahead of time.
Our Barred rocks just started laying eggs in the last two weeks and 4 are laying with two of them laying double yokes. They are all free range and organic feed. It is natural till their cycle gets regulated.
We got chickens this year, and so far we've had ten double yolks. Not sure though as to which one is laying it, as we have nine different kinds of chickens. And we also let them free range and feed them as organically as we can.
And thanks for posting this, we've been wondering how this happens and if it would lead to twins.
We were down in Chillawack, BC at the end of August this year and found a place that sold all double yoke eggs! Now they sold in flats of 18 and we bought 2 and gave some to friends!
I was worried that something might be amiss with them but I guess not. I find it very unsual to have all double yokers.
I wish I had asked the fellow some questions about his chickens.
Happy Eating!
I just encountered my first double yolker...i was all scared to eat it and decided to do some research. hahah looks like its all good to eat. thanx
I just encountered my first double yolker...i was all scared to eat it and decided to do some research. hahah looks like its all good to eat. thanx
Haha!! I love double yolkers! It's great!
Haha!! I love double yolkers! It's great!
Just had a doubled yolked egg - my first for years. Thanks for a useful and enjoyable article!