2 chicks from 1 egg?

[Pcaines]

Hi guys! We have 5 eggs hatch and I knew that because there were 5 left that didn’t and we had 10 total. I removed those and put them in an incubator and 1 hatched. When I put him in with mom I lifted her to see and check on all the babies to make sure everyone was healthy and such. To my surprise, we have 7 babies?! Is that even possible!!

 

[Gallinarium]

Hi guys! We have 5 eggs hatch and I knew that because there were 5 left that didn’t and we had 10 total. I removed those and put them in an incubator and 1 hatched. When I put him in with mom I lifted her to see and check on all the babies to make sure everyone was healthy and such. To my surprise, we have 7 babies?! Is that even possible!!

Are you certain that five eggs did not hatch? Occasionally they can look that way.

 

[Pcaines]

Are you certain that five eggs did not hatch? Occasionally they can look that way.

Yes!! I candled the remaining 5, 2 weren’t fertilized so I threw them out and put the last 3 in the incubator. 1 hatched late last night and the other two are still incubating. I’m not sure if they make it as I haven’t seen any movement or chirping. But yes, we counted 10 eggs when we moved her to her own location.

 

[Gallinarium]

I don't know then. It's technically possible for that to happen, but I've never heard of twins making it. There's been several threads.

 

[Pcaines]

I don't know then. It's technically possible for that to happen, but I've never heard of twins making it. There's been several threads.

They are also identical, different from the others. The hen sat on a variety of eggs. I think these were her babies. One is much smaller than the other, like half the size, but both appear happy and healthy!

 

[turkey girl 0964]

That's awesome!

 

[Gallinarium]

They are also identical, different from the others. The hen sat on a variety of eggs. I think these were her babies. One is much smaller than the other, like half the size, but both appear happy and healthy!

Pictures?

 

[hysop]

I wanna see pictures!!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I've read about this happening from multiple sources but I've no first hand experience. It's very rare for twin chicks to hatch but it can happen. Usually both embryos die. If they do hatch it's exactly as you described. Very large size difference between them but otherwise healthy.

 

[wf1992]

That's amazing! I haven't heard of twins surviving, hatching naturally, etc. But the size difference sounds plausible.

You're also quite sure nobody (or mom herself) laid an extra egg in her nest at the beginning? I guess if you were candling them all throughout, you'd have noticed that - I mostly left mine alone and hoped for the best, so they could have pulled something like that on me

Looking forward to pictures of the twins!