Double Yoke Question

[Chicken Judy]

I seem to have read somewhere that if you are getting a good quantity of double yokes, there might be a problem. Since I have only RIR's I don't know which girl is laying them but I can tell from the egg that it is one girl doing it. Any advise would be appreciated. I'm still learning.

 

[holm25]

I have never heard that but that does not mean it is not true. We get lots of double yolkers and are hens are fine.

 

[krista74]

I do recall reading something similar once, but I tend to take everything with a grain of salt, so to speak. There are lots of experts in the world, and if we listened to all of them we would live our whole lives in fear!

I have 1 RIR girl (out of 6 in total) who lays a double-yolker fairly regularly. It is not so much the 'double yolk' part that worries me, more the fact that the double yolks come wrapped in massive eggs, the largest being 118 grams! Obviously it is not ideal for our girls to be laying eggs of this size, but that raises the question of what can we do to prevent it?

The best advice I can give you on the matter (and this stands for all chickens) is to keep a close eye on them. Make sure their diet is adequate, that they have good shelter and access to free ranging if possible, never let their water run dry, practise good hygiene in the coop and run, and take preventative measures such as worming and dusting for lice and mites, rather than corrective measures after the fact (if possible.)

That is the very best we can do for them, and after that it is in Nature's hands. What will be will be. My girl has been laying her massive eggs for about 9 months now. She seems fine. I do keep an eye on her and always check her back end for prolapse when I find the big eggs, but other than that I just try not to worry and trust that she knows what she is doing.

My very best wishes to you and your girl,

- Krista

 

[donrae]

I think hens that routinely lay double yolk eggs could easily be more at risk for reproductive issues, but honestly don't know what you could do about it. I have a hen that lays double yolkers a few times a month, she's going to be 3 in the spring and is one of my best layers.

 

[Chicken Judy]

Thanks for the advise and you are right. Those double yokes are rather large!

 

[Rocky64]

I had a hen lay a triple yoker

 

[Chicken Judy]

OMG, I know how big my doubles are. I can't imagine a triple.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That may have been one of my posts. I personally don’t like a hen that consistently lays a double yolked egg. That means she is releasing two yolks at a time instead of one, so her internal egg making factory has a flaw. An occasional blip is not a concern, but I mean a hen past the pullet stage that consistently (maybe once a week) lays a double yolked egg. These hens are also more prone to releasing two yolks in a day but not together. That way you can get two eggs in one day, but the second egg is sometimes very thin-shelled or totally shell-less. The hen only makes enough shell material for one egg a day, not two. If you find a soft-shelled egg in your coop from an established layer, that is likely to be the reason.

That hen does not suit my goals. I‘m not going to try to hatch a double yolked egg. Some people occasionally get it to work but any success is pretty rare. The eggs are large and don’t fit in my egg cartons. They don’t work well in a recipe that calls for a specific number of eggs. I don’t necessarily follow all recipes to perfection, but some people that get my eggs do.

Many hens lay double yolked eggs, triple yolked eggs, or other unusual eggs and never have a problem. But the larger eggs can possibly cause some problems. Can does not mean it absolutely will, but it elevated their risk a bit, however little that is.

Not all hens that consistently lay double yolked eggs ever lay a soft-shelled egg or shell-less eggs. They are a little more prone to it but that does not mean they ever will. Soft-shelled eggs create their own potential problems. They can break inside the hen and lead to medical problems. They can break in the nest and mess up the other eggs or even lead to egg eating. Not every soft shelled egg leads to that, but the potential is there.

I fully understand many people think a double yolked egg is the greatest thing since peanut butter and sardines on rye with yellow mustard. They just go weak-kneed with joy when they see one. The odds are you will never see a problem with that. Most hens can manage. But for various personal reasons I see it as a flaw and don’t let a hen pass on those genetics in my flock.

One of the things that can lead to a hen releasing more than one yolk a day is if she is eating a very high protein diet. Not every hen that eats a high protein diet will lay a double yolked egg. Most will not. But it is something than can encourage a hen prone to it to release two yolks a day. So if you are feeding a high protein diet, have a hen that is consistently laying double yolked eggs, and you are worried about it, you might try cutting back on the protein a bit to see if that helps. I’ll emphasize I’m talking about a hen that consistently lays a double yolked egg. An occasional double yolked egg does not bother me at all.