[eddie wooder]

Who can help?
I read that a double yolked egg is a rarity, something in the region of 1 in 1000 !!! Well for the last four months at least, i have been getting around 2 dozen eggs per week and nearly every one has been a double yolk and some even triple.
I am now getting a bit concerned that there may be something genetically wrong with the hens that are laying these eggs as a double yolk is more the norm. Could this be possible??

[Aunt Sally]

Hi Eddie and Welcome to the forums !

I've changed your post to sentence case rather than all capital letters for you

That is an amazing number of double yolk eggs  to be getting  :shock:

I'd guess they are either very young layers and may grow out of it.  Or it's a perminent laying fault.  Make the most of it while it lasts

[chooknewbie]

Does that mean that they will stop laying faster tho Aunt Sally as they have a predetermined amount of eggs to lay in their lifetime?

[too many girls]

i think i read on here that if you get loads of double yokers their laying span will be shorter, need to wait for Aunty for conformation tho.

[Roughlee Handled]

i think i read on here that if you get loads of double yokers their laying span will be shorter, need to wait for Aunty for conformation tho.

I read it too TMG.  It is cuz they only have the eggs that they are born with they never make any more.  It is just like the female of the human species.

[Aunt Sally]

So they say, but I don't know if it's really true.

What I do know is true is that hens who lay multiple yolked eggs are prone to internal laying i.e. a yolk (or more than one) is released from the ovary and one doesn't find it's way into the fallopian tube but ends up in the abdominal cavity causing egg peritonitis.

So although double yolked eggs are nice for us they are not really desirable for the hen  

[Miller]

We've got one who lays double yolkers every 3rd egg without fail (only been laying 3 weeks though) -

Aunty - what are the signs of egg peritonitis? Similar to peritonitis in humans - I'm worried now

[Foxy]

yes every hen is born with a finite number of eggs. So they more they lay, the more they use up and this will detirmine how long they lay for. So although a hybrid or a battery hen will lay like mad for 18mths they can tail of quite significantly. Pure breeds lay less eggs per year, and go broody in the spring so will lay for more years. That is the general rule although there will be exceptions!

[poultrygeist]

Article explaining it here.....

http://www.poultry.allotment-garden.org/Chicken_a/Chicken_Egg_Excess/double-yolk-eggs.php

Rob

[Aunt Sally]

Aunty - what are the signs of egg peritonitis? Similar to peritonitis in humans - I'm worried now

Don't worry too much, it's not that common.

If a hen stops laying  and looks ruffled and unwell and her tummy (the bit between her breast bone and her vent) becomes bloated, it could be egg peritonitis.