Are Twins Possible?

[Forever Green]

Ok, so my 8 month old hen went broody, so we decided to let her sit. We live in Ohio and it is cold now, so we moved her and her nest of 7 eggs to our heated, insulated, mud porch. We have a very small coop on the porch, completely contained so she could rest easy through her 21-day long sit. Long story short, Christmas Eve we came home to 2 baby chicks. No other eggs have hatched since. We have looked high and low and there is only 1 cracked egg, not 2. Is it really possible to have 2 chicks hatch from the same small egg? The cracked egg was from our green egg layer, which is a little on the small-medium size. These 2 chicks look identical. They have the same dad, however, all of our hens are various kinds. If they did not hatch from the same egg, would the mother hen eat/destory the shell? I'm looking for answers because I only have one cracked egg and 2 chicks.....thoughts/comments please??

 

[Imp]

Wow! I suppose it is possible, but very highly unlikely. A true mystery you got there.

Here's a thread about a double yolker hatching.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=104245

Imp- very cool if they are twins.

 

[cochin_kookoo]

is there still 6 unhatched eggs under the broody? I know there can be twins from a double yolker but survival rate is really slim and hatching often requires assistance. I have heard of hens eating the egg shell but I do not know how common it is.

 

[tinychickies]

Quote:
Very good point, if there are still 6 eggs under the broody out of seven eggs, then it is possible that they are twins!

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I've seen twin chickens hatch on a u-tube video. Search 'Twin Chickens!'

 

[lilcritters]

The hen could have eaten the egg shell... if there are 5 eggs left......


April

 

[cmom]

Quote:
It is possible. Check out the video in the 1st post in the thread mentioned above or as the above poster said your hen could have eaten one of the shells.

 

[Ariel301]

Are you sure you didn't have two eggs hatch? Hens will often get rid of the empty shells. Twins are possible, but they're usually pretty small and weak on the rare occasion that they hatch, and a lot of times one or both will be too weak to live. Every now and then it happens though.

 

[Forever Green]

So, I have 7 left unhatched under my hen. I must have had 8, not 7. These are definitely twins. There is only 1 hatched egg and these birds are identical in every way, in every marking. None of my green egg laying hens are the same, and I only have 3 green egg layers. I had 3 green eggs from the day's lay under the hen, 2 greens are left, 1 green was the hatch. These twin chicks are truly a Christmas miracle.

 

[Forever Green]

I'll get their pictures posted later tonight, so you can see their exact markings......hoping both are hens......Since hatched on Christmas Eve, one is named Noel and the other is Eve...