What causes every egg in a carton to have 2 yolks??

Question

I have a carton of eggs, and every egg so far has 2 yolks in it. at first i thought it was kind of weird and laughed to myself as i cooked the first one. Then one after another , every time i cracked an egg they all came out with 2 yolks. Is this very rare? Could this be a potentially hazardous sign of what is going on at the chicken farm shipping these eggs out? What is going on here?

i am positive its 2 seperate yolks. and the carton is from stater bros, and they are the jumbo grade a"s. if it helps..

Answer 1

I raise chickens. The reason there were two yolks in the shell is because the chicken released two yolks at one time (or two before it made the calcium shell to go around the egg) which was then enclosed inside the shell. The shell is the last thing the chicken creates before it lays. My chickens will lay double yolks if they go a second day without releasing the egg they started the day before. Chickens don't have twins. If a double yolk were fertile and was incubated, it would die because there just isn't enough room inside the shell for 2 chicks. I'm not sure how the farmer could determine double yolks in every egg for the carton, unless you see a seam in the egg - which could mean it took the 2 days. My husband believes that if you candled the eggs, you may be able to determine which ones have double yolks - if the shells are white - with darker shells it would be harder. FYI Candling the eggs means get in a dark room and shine a very strong penlight flashlight against the egg. (I just candled about 4 store-bought white eggs and could see the yolk inside - what you see isn't a blob so much as a color change as the yolk moves from one side of the egg to the other - will appear a little yellower where the yolk is so the more yellow there is, then the farmer could determine the double-yolkers.)

Answer 2

I remember when I was little my grandmother would buy what she called "double-yolks" - eggs with 2 yolks. These were a specific kind of egg, like large or jumbo. She bought them from a chicken farmer. I don't ever remember seeing them in stores, but maybe the farm that produces your eggs also packages up "double-yolks" and yours were mispackaged.

That's the only reason I can think this happened.

Answer 3

That's bizarre. I'm not sure how it'd be hazardous.

Are you sure it's two yolks? As opposed to being shipped in a way that the yolks split? It's not easy to split a yolk, but it seems like such a rarity that I can't figure it out, unless the farm does eggs in a carton grouped by chicken and you've got one that does double yolks.

Nevertheless, if in doubt, contact the company. I can't see how it would be bad, but it sure sounds weird.

Answer 4

They are definitely two completely separate and individual yolks and we get them all the time if we buy Jumbo sized eggs. We are in Costa Rica by the way, so it's definitely nothing to do with your farms or US farming practices.

Answer 5

A double yolk egg is essentially the same as a woman having twins. A woman has two egg that get fertilized and she has them in her uterus- and a chicken has them in her shell.

My guess is this dairy is using some sort of fertility drug on their chickens to make them produce eggs more quickly.

Answer 6

http://www.slashfood.com/2007/01/04/multi-yolk-eggs/

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/boardarchives/2004/dec2004/doubleyolkedegg.html

I wouldn't worry, sounds like they are "lucky" according to one of the links, the other link says it is quite common, more than 2 yolks is rare.

Answer 7

It is a little bit bad for you try eating eggs olni 4-5 times a week the yellow part is bad for you you get clestroel

Answer 8

You must have bought a carton
of extra-large eggs. These
eggs are from larger, and
more mature hens who quite
frequently lay double-yoked
eggs.

Answer 9

i always thought that it was pretty rare since i have only seen that maybe twice. it was meant to be twins i believe. :(