Eggs Again....

I just couldn't help myself. I had to share another egg picture. This time it was a double double lucky day! I was making our breakfast favorite- Swedish Pancakes, which calls for 4 eggs. After the initial excitement of breaking 2 double yolkers in a row, I pondered with the kids for a minute if I should go ahead and add 2 more eggs. We decided against it. The pancakes turned out delicious. :-)

The egg-picture-taking fever must be contagious around here because when I got home the other day, some photos like this were on the camara:Taylor explained he'd gone out to take care of the chickens and was amazed at how big this particular egg was compared to ones we usually find. Of course he had to get a picture! Here's the side by side comparison with a normal egg:

Okay, I'm laughing at myself that I've devoted yet another post to eggs. I'm just a nut.

Egg oddities

Well, I've been browsing the internet in search of what causes double yolks and I had to share this 1940's photo of a little girl washing eggs that I stumbled across.

I love this picture! Just click on it to see the full size version.

Well, anyways, back to my original topic. Wikipedia had this to say:
Double-yolked eggs occur rarely, only leading to observed successful hatchings under human intervention, as the unborn chickens would otherwise fight each other and die. (hmmm... wonder how they "intervened" in an unhatched egg?)

Then a chicken site I stumbled upon had these interesting tidbits:
Double yolks are a "mistake" in the chicken's reproductive system that sometimes happens when a hen just starts laying eggs and her system is still trying to figure out how to do it correctly. It may also be hereditary.

Occasionally, an egg contains more than two yolks. The greatest number of yolks found in one egg is NINE. Record breaking eggs are likely to be multiple yolkers. The Guinness Book of Records lists the world's largest [chicken] egg (with a diameter of 9 inches/22.5 cm) as having five yolks and the heaviest egg (1 pound/0.45 kg) as having a double yolk and a double shell.

The site that I found the information on had some pictures of really strange eggs. Like a spoon shaped egg or an egg within an egg! You can see for yourself by going to this link.

Double Yolks

I like our current project of raising chickens for a couple reasons. First of all, because it gets us closer to the goal of learning more about how to raise our family's own source of healthy food. And second, I like that my kids have a responsibility beyond cleaning up their rooms. But sometimes, the joy of having your own egg supply (even if it is small) is in the daily suprise of "Is there going to be a brown one today?" or "Wow, look at this huge egg! - Mom, do you think it would have been twins?". And then when you are cooking, you never know when you are going to crack open a double yolker! My friend Heather, who raises chickens, told me her kids proclaim it a lucky day when she breaks open a double yolked egg. We just gather around and marvel at it and sometimes take a picture. Look at the color difference in the yolks. The other one is a store-bought egg.