Double yolker eggs - which breed?

[Candyman]

I bought these double yolker eggs from someone who says all the eggs have two yolks, and yes all have two yolks. Now I searched a lot but it seems its only a malfunction that a hen lays two yolker eggs... so the question is how does all his hens lay two yolked eggs?

 

[Veer67]

They probably don't, it sounds like he just picked out the bigger eggs and gave them to you. Once you've cracked a double yolker, you can usually tell if an egg is, or not. All chickens can lay double yolk eggs, some are more likely than others. Red Sex Link and other high Production Eggers frequently come out with giant extra large eggs that result in being double yolkers. It also isn't exactly healthy for hens to lay them all the time, as these high production chickens usually start having health problems after 2 years of age, which include: Prolapse and egg binding.

 

[chooks4life]

X2, what Veer67 said.

For a while some hens I had from different mongrel parentages were laying doubleyolkers and I culled that out quick smart once I saw what it was costing the hens to lay those eggs.

If it happens too often it is a massive strain on the hens and is more likely to kill them than a normal egg for obvious reasons. It is genetic, hence the culling.

For a while, decades ago, people tried to develop doubleyolker egg layers as a breed, but it failed due to the dangerousness of the trait to the hen's health. As a general rule it is a genetic trait that is culled out, not encouraged.

It's like the initial popularity of breeding sheep that give birth to monstrous lambs for the lamb meat market. It is now an unpopular genetic trait due to how often the ewes die or need assistance birthing these oversize babies. Also, the babies are weaker, slower, and needier, altogether more prone to die than smaller, fitter, faster babies. With doubleyolkers, the very few chicks that have been hatched from such eggs are weak and do not tend to make it to adulthood. I hatched a few before giving it up as a fool's errand.

It's a negative trait, as promising as it may seem when you first see huge eggs with double yolks.

Better the hen who lives many years producing steadily than the hen who lives a year producing excessively and then dies worn out. If she is producing within her capacities, her product is superior than if she's always overproducing due to genetic inclination.

Best wishes.

 

[Candyman]

cool, thank you for the answers, I can imagine why it would be a negative trait. Maybe this person encouraged this trait in his breed.. idk cause he had around 300 eggs (I bought 2 dozen

) with him which he was selling.

 

[chooks4life]

Yeah, the doubleyolker thing is pretty popular on and off among hobby farmers and the likes, until they learn the reasons why not to propagate it.

Best wishes.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

cool, thank you for the answers, I can imagine why it would be a negative trait. Maybe this person encouraged this trait in his breed.. idk cause he had around 300 eggs (I bought 2 dozen

) with him which he was selling.

So of 2 dozen eggs they where ALL double yolkers???

 

[Candyman]

@ cluckcluckluke I have eaten 5 of those and till now all are double yolkers

 

[Candyman]

• @chooks4life Even better wishes to you

 

[chooks4life]

• @chooks4life Even better wishes to you

lol thank you!

Random thought... If someone could breed a large hen that lays small eggs (been there done that lol, as a byproduct of a random breeding experiment, it's definitely very doable) and this breed was then bred to lay doubleyolkers, they would be safer than a small hen laying large eggs of which some are extra large doubleyolkers.

But it kind of defeats the purpose, because people want extra large eggs, not small eggs with two yolks. However I'd think that's the only way to breed hens that lay doubleyolkers safely. Unless you bred monster sized hens who laid XL eggs that were still a reasonable size for their body capacity, with the doubleyolker trait.... But then there's still the fertility issue, and breeding that breed on would be possibly not doable.

Eh, random thoughts...

 

[cluckcluckluke]

@ cluckcluckluke I have eaten 5 of those and till now all are double yolkers

WOW! They are some real layers.lol.