Thats basicly true. Some chicks will hatch with the yol not entirely taken into their bodies, but the yolk is their nourishment which can "feed" the chiock for a day or 2. I have seen eggs where 2 embryos have begun development but they died in shell, never making hatch. The oddities can happen just as often in single celled eggs. When considering all of the possibilites of what could go wrong with births/hatches, its amazing things work as well as they do! As an animal breeder of some 5o years I have seen some strange things, and would add that most have been the results of total outcrosses. I practice quite a bit of inbreeding in all species and rearely have seen oddities from this type breedings, I usually know the parentage of the animals so have(some) control over results. I say this as I kind of figured that inbreeding would come up in the topic.

I thought I'd heard most of the little ditties, because my Mama had a saying or belief about everything, but no.....never heard anything about double yolk eggs. The websites said it is most common with immature hens, but I find it's my old gals who are a little long in the tooth who spit out the doubles. I also have read a little misinformation in some of the articles about double yolkers. One of them said that they seldom hatch because the 'twins' inside fight and kill each other. roflmao. Sure. Sometimes there are dizygotic twins in them, but it's typical there is only one embryo, and if there are two, one usually grows and the other one shrinks and is absorbed. They don't fight each other inside the eggs. Good Lordy.

My poultry guy at the farmer's market told me that some chickens (breeds of chickens? specially raised chickens? -- I don't know) always lay double-yolk eggs. He can charge higher prices for some of his eggs because he can guarantee double yolks. People around here like them, I guess because you're only eating one big fried egg but it seems like you're eating two. So somehow you got eggs laid by the double-yolking chickens.

The White Yucky thing that Sharon hates is not the Chick before it starts to grow. Chalazae (kuh-LAY-zee) - Ropey strands of egg white which anchor the yolk in place in the center of the thick white. There are two chalazae anchoring each yolk, on opposite ends of the egg. They are neither imperfections nor beginning embryos. The more prominent the chalazae, the fresher the egg. Chalazae does not interfere with the cooking or beating of the white and need not be removed, although some cooks like to strain them from stirred custard. Linda, I'm so glad I didn't read your post before we had breakfast today. I might not have eaten my eggs. LOL! Ann