Triple yolk!

[AmyWho]

I knew it was gonna have more than one the day she laid it.
She's a fairly new layer. 6 month old easter egger.

I never expected 3!!!!!

My husband was so bummed that he broke one cracking it.

 

[Happy Feathers]

 

[Jajika]

Wow,. that is wild. Never heard of that before. Has it happened again?

 

[AmyWho]

Wow,. that is wild. Never heard of that before. Has it happened again?

Not yet, but she's kicked out two double yolkers since beginning to lay last month.

 

[Jajika]

She sounds like a special chicken, indeed. Keep us posted on future eggs. It would be interesting if all her eggs...or most...are double yolkers. Would love to hear from some of the experts on this board who now about the biology of chickens.

 

[usedhobarts]

I have a Rhode Island Red that about one out of every six eggs is a football and produces double yolks. The eggs often look like they are fused togather on the shell. My grandmother who had chickens for nearly 60 years said that chickens who lay double and sometimes even triple yolks are hens that are just genetically over producers. They drop more cells instinctively to fulfill the instinct to reproduce at a high rate. She said it happened more often after predator attack when chickens were killed in the attack. This is old school information and in no way am I suggesting it is the cause. I just like to share some of the old school trains of thought once in while. Her position was that chickens react differently to stress. Some stop laying when they are stressed while others choose to over produce. My personal opinion is that it is just one of those things. I have a really small leghorn that lays an extra large to super jumbo egg nearly everyday. This defys logic but hey , I'm not complaining. One thing that I do believe to be factual is that a hen that consistantly produces doubles or in your case a triple will have a shorter laying life. Grandma never used an incubator. When she identified a double yolker hen she would send her to the brooder house. She would remove eggs that had signs of being multi yolks. After a short time the hens would stop the doubles when they realized their eggs were not getting harvested daily. I might test this theory next spring. I want to hatch out 3-4 dozen eggs and have not yet decided whether to incubate or allow natural brooding. I'm being told chicks that are hatched naturally tend to be friendlier and better producers. Not sure if there is any truth to that but we will se what happens. Good luck with your girl and her triplets. Shoot for a quad

 

[AmyWho]

That's some really cool stuff, usedhobarts.
Some "old wive's tales" have truth behind them, and other's do not.

In this instance, I have a flock of 4 in a well built coop and a fortress of a run that is half of my yard. They have not been under any sort of predator attack (that I'm aware of) to date. My neighbors have dogs, but they've grown up with 'em. They aren't afraid. It would make sense why someone might think that though. It's the bird's instincts trying to repopulate the flock.

I've also heard that double yolks don't have a very high survival rate. The twins just get to crowded. While it doesn't happen every time, I've read there is a high instance of failure to thrive.

On that note, she just gave us another double yolk this morning. She started laying in the middle of July, so including that triple she is giving us one multiple yolked egg per week right now.
I'll go out and get some pictures of her in a minute. The only ones I have right now are these of her, and her butt, from when she was much younger.

 

[Jajika]

Yes...really fascinating. Well done.

 

[usedhobarts]

Another tip I received from grandma about over producing hens was to make sure the eggs that are harvested daily have been sitting in the nest for awhile. Although we were around chickens a lot when we were kids I have just started my own flock this year at age 49. I have 20 hens and 2 Roos. When I first started I bought 8 laying hens from last springs chicks and one roo. I added 12 pullets and a young roo a month ago. My pullets are going to start laying any day now as their combs are getting dip red and dom roo is starting to pounce on them. When I first I got girls I was always checking for eggs as I work from the house so I'm always around. When we collected eggs often they were hot from a fresh lay. The kids call it " hot off the press" . It was suggested that we wait awhile after the chicken lays ( a couple hours) before collecting the eggs. Since we started doing this when don't get a many doubles. I don't know whether taking the egg right after it is layed has an emotional effect on the chicken or not but I guess I could. In some aspects the chicken could look at us as predators. I was in the habit of collecting eggs when ever I went by the the nesting cabinet. Now I just collect twice a day. 11:00 am and 5:00 pm. If an egg is warm I leave that egg alone until the next collection time. Im told any chicken can produce a multi yolk egg and believe it because I have gotten a double at some point or another from most of my girls. The red that does one a week seems to no matter what. You hen may be thinking of you as a predator stealing her egg. I would try leaving her egg alone in the nest for a few hours and allow her to naturally cycle. Again this is just a thought. It does not seem to far out of the realm for a chicken to stress out and drop cells after losing a fresh layed egg.

 

[usedhobarts]

Sorry for all the typos LOL. was using the ipad which I'm not good at