I have a HUGE egg, double yolker? Should I try and hatch it? UPDATE

[RockwaterFarm]

I actually have cracked open a double yolk egg with a non developed chick inside it. it was really gross. My uncle said he has never hatched a double yolker but it is worth try. Maybe twins!

 

[RhodeRunner]

One of our hens hatched out a double yolker, and we had two little identical looking chicks. One died, the other grew healthy, plump, and mean! I don't see how it could hurt to give it a try, good luck!

 

[dianneS]

Quote:
Thanks! I viewed the video. That is amazing! I never knew of anyone who successfully hatched a double yolker! I'm going to give it a shot! Its a pretty fresh egg and its been refrigerated just a few days along with a few others I'd like to set.

I'll get them out tonight to bring them up to room temp and set them in the morning! I'll keep you all posted!

 

[Kittymomma]

I'm pretty sure I'll be in the minority here, but I say don't do it.

As far as twins go, what you have if both yolks develope is fraternal twins, no different then two eggs from the same clutch. Most of the time one or both chicks will quit early at least one of them often dying at time of hatch. There is still only one air sack so the chick at the other end of the egg is at major risk from the beginning. Both chicks will have an extra hard time pipping and zipping because of the lack of room and also because they have to push off of each other (soft, giving surface) instead of the egg shell to get leverage. If you do it you will have to help and chances are good that it will be too late (dead chicks) or too early and you'll hit a vein and bleed them out.

I followed the thread of the succesful hatch and it was amazing, but it was a one in a thousand kind of thing. Bottom line in my opinion is that just because you can doesn't always mean you should.

Ok, now that I've been a complete wet blanket I'll get off my soap box. I wish you luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[slackwater]

I tried one - had one embryo start and quit around 10 days.

 

[Rooster#3]

the video is gone

 

[dianneS]

Rooster#3 :

the video is gone

No its still on there. She posted it on Youtube after photobucket cancelled it out. You could go directly to Youtube and type in "twin chicks" and see if you can find it. I'll try and find the link again.

Here you go. Here's the Youtube link to the video. Its in two parts.

 

[hnbubz]

Quote:
Thanks! I viewed the video. That is amazing! I never knew of anyone who successfully hatched a double yolker! I'm going to give it a shot! Its a pretty fresh egg and its been refrigerated just a few days along with a few others I'd like to set.

I'll get them out tonight to bring them up to room temp and set them in the morning! I'll keep you all posted!

i'll definatley be following along

can't wait to see how it goes!

 

[dianneS]

I set the eggs this morning. Its not often I get double yolkers, so I figure I might not have this opportunity again for a while. I'm hoping for the best!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I see you have started so I'll wish you luck with it. We all have different goals so the same answer is not always right for all of us.

I do not set double yolk eggs for the reasons Kittymomma gave. Also I do not consider a double yolked egg a good thing. When a hen lays a double yolked egg, it means her egg laying machinery is not working quite right. She will often skip the next day. The double yolked egg is larger than a normal egg. This increases the risk to a hen when laying the egg. Obviously, this does not mean that a hen will have serious problems every time she lays a double yolker, just that the odds of problems increase. An occasional hick-up will occur but I don't want the genes for consistently laying double yolkers in my flock.

I know I'm really in a minority in this and I do wish you good luck.