How do you determine if an egg is a double yolker?

[thebirdguy]

I have some really big RIR eggs in the bator right now and tried candling them prior to setting to see if I could tell if they were double yolks or not.. couldn't really tell. If it was a dy, once they both started developing I would guess you could tell due to seeing two little dancers in there.. Has anyone been successful in determining if it is dy prior to developing?

thanks!

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! Maybe try a stronger light and a darker room for candling?
I've never set a double yolk egg, so I'm not sure what you'd see if both yolks had developing embryos.
I hope your eggs are just *jumbo* and not double yolk --- from what I've read, incubating double yolk eggs rarely ends well.
Good luck!

Lisa

 

[spiritdance]

I incubated a double yolker unintentionally once, and actually hatched one chick from it. The other was malformed. From the research I did at the time, it's very rare for even one chick to hatch, much less two, so I wouldn't set another one if I knew it beforehand. I couldn't tell it was a DY until I candled at day 9, then it was obvious.

 

[thebirdguy]

I use a homemade LED 450 lumen candler... It is awesome... I am assuming that none of these are double yolkers since I couldn't distinguish two yolks prior to setting.. I figure if there are ever two developing embryos that that would be obvious at that time... just wondered if you could see two yolks by candling prior to any development..

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

...just wondered if you could see two yolks by candling prior to any development..

Hi! I've been able to see two distinct yolks in the double yolk eggs I've gotten. For some reason, I hardly ever get double yolk eggs (I candle most of the eggs laid here, whether for 'eating' or 'hatching').

Lisa​

 

[Janielou]

I have a Black Australorp that lays super jumbo eggs, and most of them are double yolkers. I tried candling another large egg tonight, and comparing it to a smaller Australorp egg. I could only distinguish one very large yolk that took up about 1/4 of the egg. I am assuming it is a double yolker, and will boil it tomorrow to verify it. It weighs 2.6 oz.