Thursday, November 30, 2006

The Twin Egg Debate

Hot or not hot, that is the question. The object in question: twin eggs.

Over the weekend I bought a small, six-piece carton of eggs. They weren't organic, but they were free range. Now, I generally buy medium eggs because it seems to be the most common size here in Germany, but on this occaision the XL eggs caught my eye. I'd never seen such a thing. Let me rephrase that: I coulnd't remember ever having seen such a thing. I have undoubtedly bought XL eggs in the US, but memories of grocery shopping fade fast. I peered into the carton; I liked what I saw. Six enourmous eggs. Visions of over-easy eggs and toast starting dancing through my mind.

The next morning, I cooked up an over-easy egg for myself. As I cracked it open, I was quite surprised to see that it was a twin egg, featuring, of course, two yolks. A fluke I thought. Later that day I was making banana bread and found that eggs number 2 and 3 were also twins. As were eggs 4 and 6. Egg number 5 was the only one-yolk baby in the bunch.

What does this mean?
Does this somehow point to genetic engineering or chicken fertility drugs? Or are large eggs just by nature likely to be twins? Can two chicks grow in one egg? Isn't it possibly that they would injure one another with their sharp little beaks or claws?

Is this hot or not?
The answer to this question is very much dependent on the answer to the first question. Without knowing the nature of twin eggs, I am unable to judge their hotness or lack thereof.

To my German audience (which may very well be composed of just one person): does this fall into the category of a German topic? It was inspired by an incident in my oh so German life. I might be able to get more German inspiration for my blog if I went to places of interest near Tü, like Burg Hohenzollern for example (cough cough, nudge nudge).

12 comments:

Rhiannon said...

wow - i have experienced the twin egg once ro twice, but never so many times in the same package. i wonder if this phenomena happens more than we know, but is usually caught in more rigorous screening processes, ie, those of the 'big egg' corporations here in n.a.
...i would assume that the occurance of twins in chickens is roughly the same as the occurance of twins in humans...wait, i don't know about that...i'm still baffled that there were THAT many twins in a box - yeah, my vote is for not hot, for sure!

Anonymous said...

Warum geht es den ganzen Tag nur um Eier, Frau Aanes?

Anonymous said...

Where is skhl when we need her?

Anonymous said...

Not hot? NOT HOT?!?!? Jeez Rhiannon... Of course this is hot! I think I can pretty much prove it:

What's happening in these eggs is a phenomenon that has been titillating and arounsing men for millennia, or at least since the dawn of the College Girls Gone Wild DVDs: TWO CHICKS GOING AT IT, COVERED IN A THICK, VISCOUS FLUID. Is that hot? Uh... yeah, I think it just freaking well might be.

But wait... it gets better. See, here's where it goes from the status of something incredibly awesome you saw at a frat party in your freshman year to something that you imagine only actually exists in the Playboy mansion. See these two chicks -- they're sisters. But not even just sisters. TWINS. Yeah... definitely, definitely hot. Oh and they're young. I'm not talking "barely legal" young, I'm talking "not even incubated yet" young.

Oh... and you've got a whole goddamn CARTON of this action going on. What you picked up in your is pretty much the most hardcore, illicit, fantastic fowl clusterf**k imaginable. Like, seriously: there isn't a rooster alive who doesn't fantasize about having the week that you just had.

Katie said...

Who are you anonymous? Reveal all

Rhiannon said...

yes, who are you anonymous?

Rhiannon said...

yes, who are you anonymous?

Katie said...

Apparently (the word on the street of folklore at least) says an egg with no yolk is lucky. An egg with one yolk is lucky. And an egg with two yolks is alas, unlucky.

More importantly, I wanted to find out if a double yolk egg could produce two chickies. Apparently it can, although it is very rare because generally they fight each other to death to get to their air cell, where they peck their way out.

Lame.

Claire in Tuba-Town said...

I'm quite impressed with your responses! And I would also love to know who this anonymous commenter is!

Yes, Katie, I have also been informed by other sources that indeed to chicks in one egg usually ends in someone losing an eye . . . or worse.

I ate a really good egg today, perfectly soft-boiled.

Rhiannon said...

i would like to confess that the itinerant, peripatetic "anonymous" just violated me in my kitchen, while my boyfriend was away...and i was not making eggs...i'm confused abotu my emotional state...

skhl said...

Claire, wow! I am impressed by the number of comments... what a hot topic!

I did some research on double yolks: Double-yolkers occur when ovulation happens too rapidly. Young hens sometimes secrete two follicles in quick succession from the ovary. When both of them are together in the oviduct, they get `entrapped' in the same shell leading to a double-yolked egg. Double yolkers occur in young adult female chickens when they first start producing eggs because their ovaries are not adjusted or not yet synchronized, so two yolks are released together. Shortly after egg production starts, the chickens' bodies adjust, and for the most part, they then lay eggs with only one yolk. (I am guessing it is similar to how young menstruating human girls have irregular periods at first, then the body usually figures out a good rhythm)

But, there are some chickens which inherit the characteristic to lay double-yolked eggs and usually continue to do so throughout their life. I couldn't find anything about genetic engineering causing this but if it could be an inherited trait, I suppose they could be bred to lay double-yolkers. I know it is more common in "heavy-laying breeds".

As for anonymous's "hot twin chick" fantasy, sorry bad news: Double-yolked eggs do not hatch two chicks; usually both the chicks die. There is not enough space for two chicks in the eggshell and neither of the chicks can reach the air-cell (seen in between the two membranes at one end of the egg).

Anonymous said...

Yeah!
skhl to the rescue!!