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Double yolks

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2023 6:05 pm
by dan_b
Ok so this happened this morning.
Box of large eggs from Tesco. First two were regular no nonsense eggs.

Then this. What's the chances of this?!
Who wants to take bets on what the last 2 eggs will be?

Image

Re: Double yolks

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2023 6:22 pm
by nowty
There is a brand I bought a few weeks back (cannot remember which) and every one had double yolks in them. :?

Re: Double yolks

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2023 6:25 pm
by AE-NMidlands
What were the middle two (assuming it's a box of 6)?
Our POL pullets used to start by laying quite small eggs, then as they got bigger/older we had bigger eggs, then (before their system got properly into gear) occasional double-yolkers.
I would guess for your last 2 out of 6, 1 out of the 2 - assuming they are all the same size from the same farm with the same birds (and their sisters.)
I went on a research visit to to one "farm" where there were 3 multi-storey houses which were cleared and "repopulated" in succession, so one shed would have half a million new birds but their eggs were mixed in with all the others before sorting by size at packing.
A

Re: Double yolks

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2023 6:30 pm
by Oliver90owner
The probability of a double-yolked egg is reckoned to be 0.001. Your box is a selected population, so rather better than that. Even if ten times more likely, you have already had more than your fair share in a box of six.

So I would go for two x single yolks, of the three available options.

Re: Double yolks

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2023 7:14 pm
by AE-NMidlands
Oliver90owner wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2023 6:30 pm The probability of a double-yolked egg is reckoned to be 0.001. Your box is a selected population, so rather better than that. Even if ten times more likely, you have already had more than your fair share in a box of six.

So I would go for two x single yolks, of the three available options.
but double yolked eggs are not produced randomly, so an overall probability is pretty well worthless.
The "selected population" is not just all big eggs, but big eggs from a farm which has a proportion of its birds not far into their laying career... so these (I presume) are abnormally big eggs from birds in a flock which will settle down to normal single-yolked big eggs before long.

Re: Double yolks

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2023 7:18 pm
by Stinsy
Had a double-yolker for the first time in a decade the other day. You used to be able to buy them by the half-dozen in the supermarket.

Re: Double yolks

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2023 7:20 pm
by Fintray
dan_b wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2023 6:05 pm Ok so this happened this morning.
Box of large eggs from Tesco. First two were regular no nonsense eggs.

Then this. What's the chances of this?!
Who wants to take bets on what the last 2 eggs will be?

Image
Triple yolkers :FP:

Re: Double yolks

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2023 8:24 am
by Kommando
Back in the 80's a corner shop in Birmingham sold eggs where 90% were double yolks.

Re: Double yolks

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2023 9:13 am
by Thebeeman
As said up-thread, they are from a young flock still sorting out their egg making machine. They'll 'probably' be from the same house/level of chickens, put onto trays at the farm and the packing station will empty the tray onto the machine and they'll end up in the same boxes if the same weight. It's nearly impossible to see if an egg is double yolk without breaking it, you can only make an educated guess.
P.S. The packing machine will tap the egg with a 'rubber' hammer to check for cracks and then look for 'inclusions' in the egg, meat spots etc.

Re: Double yolks

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2023 9:20 am
by Stinsy
Thebeeman wrote: Sun Dec 17, 2023 9:13 am As said up-thread, they are from a young flock still sorting out their egg making machine. They'll 'probably' be from the same house/level of chickens, put onto trays at the farm and the packing station will empty the tray onto the machine and they'll end up in the same boxes if the same weight. It's nearly impossible to see if an egg is double yolk without breaking it, you can only make an educated guess.
P.S. The packing machine will tap the egg with a 'rubber' hammer to check for cracks and then look for 'inclusions' in the egg, meat spots etc.
You can “lamp” an egg to see if is a double-yolker. That’s how they used to sell boxes of them!