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Double & Triple Yolkers

Swifty

Swifty

doesn't negotiate with terriers
Joined
Sep 15, 2013
Messages
33,695
I hovered over posting this in the 'Strange things as food and drink' thread but anyway .. the ins and out of it all deserve its own thread IMO ..

There's also a folklore angle later in this post ..

We've all probably cracked an egg and on the odd occasion found one with a double yolk inside .. happy days ..

I mentioned a day or two back in another thread that a mate who works at a farm dropped us off a tray of twenty eggs for free, he even gave the same amount to an elderly neighbour when I told him we were going to share them with her .. he was quite excited on the phone before he turned up and said "Everyone's a double yolker!" .. I wasn't sure how anyone would be able to know that (X ray machine at the farm?) but we've used about ten of them so far making cakes and he's correct (the odds against a double yolker are supposed to 1000 -1) , they've all been doubles ..

edit: please see video exhibit A


Except 2 so far *cue dramatic music* ..

We've had two triple yolk eggs from this tray, the second one the Mrs refuses to use because, unlike the first, this one has red embryotic fluid around it. I've filmed it for everyone's viewing pleasure and have done some brief research .. according to one link, the odds of finding a 'triple yolker' are 25 million to one.

There's also a lot of folklore surrounding double yolk eggs, both good and bad, I'll be editing this post as I go along or responding to it until it dies X

edit: folklore around double yolk eggs

http://people.howstuffworks.com/why-are-people-superstitious-about-double-yolked-eggs.htm

The red embryotic looking fluid found in our triple yolk egg this evening (no larger than a normal egg) is caused by chickens bursting a blood vessel while straining too hard to lay an egg ... I didn't see the first triple yolker but the Mrs says there was no 'blood' in that one ..

Reading the above link, the current world record (how are these egg records recorded ?) is 29 double yolkers so I reckon this farmer might be unwittingly owning a record breaking chicken .. or a batch of alien mutant ones ? ..
 
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I work for an X-ray inspection machine manufacturer...that doesn't make me an expert, though...
The problem with X-rays is that they easily pass through anything of low density. They are generally calibrated to find higher density contaminants. It may be possible to calibrate the X-ray intensity down in order to specifically find double-yolkers - I don't know. That would seem to be a misuse of an expensive X-ray machine.
I think egg producers use strong light and shine it through the eggs, and they may have in the past floated the eggs in water to check density.
That mobile phone app uses ultrasonics, which does sound plausible.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I work for an X-ray inspection machine manufacturer...that doesn't make me an expert, though...
The problem with X-rays is that they easily pass through anything of low density. They are generally calibrated to find higher density contaminants. It may be possible to calibrate the X-ray intensity down in order to specifically find double-yolkers - I don't know. That would seem to be a misuse of an expensive X-ray machine.
I think egg producers use strong light and shine it through the eggs, and they may have in the past floated the eggs in water to check density.
That mobile phone app uses ultrasonics, which does sound plausible.
Click to expand...
I think I've just worked out how to do it (check yolks without cracking shells) .... they would need to be passed in front of an intense light source or be ultra sounded I reckon .. possibly ? ..

Here's a quadrupler ..

 
Apparently both Tescos and M&S have sold boxes of double yolk eggs before. They come from young chickens. They're checked by being held in front of light.

Even accidental boxes packed with double yolks don't seem that uncommon. I googled them and there were loads of news stories from local papers along the lines of Wigan Man finds Ten Double Yolk Eggs.
 
My mate's just been back tonight (as promised) with another tray of 20 .... one of them stands out more than the others in that it's got hardened veins shapes, sort of pinkish coloured on the outside of the shell and is very rippley ... talking of Ripley from Alien, that was the first thing I said to the Mrs when I saw it "It look like an egg from ALIEN!" .. I'm keeping that one :cool: .. She's worried about the condition of the poor chicken's foo foo, I'm wondering if I should preserve it somehow or crack it open and film what's inside? ... (I'll film that one as well) ..
 
We had six doubles in a row once, from a box of 10 extra-large eggs which someone on the radio - on More or Less IIRC - had said was a million to one chance (but quite clearly isn't.)
 
Swifty said:
Thanks but that would mean I'd have to visit Yarmouth Coastal .. *shudder* .. no offence.
Click to expand...

I'm at work here now mate, let me just take a look out of the window -


11350495_10153065390649457_8873561483597474163_n.jpg



Yup. Just another day...
 
'Steve' looks like he's 'normal for Norfolk'. :D
 
Coastaljames said:
Nothing's changed mate. In fairness the old place has actually got worse in the last ten years.


Steve sends his love mate. Says he'll never forget that magical night you two spent together snuggled up by the docks ;)
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Aaah .. that'll be the time we made love to N Dubz. Please say Hi from Swifty.
 
So cruel about Yarmouth (but so true). I went to university in Norwich and went to Yarmouth once, which was two visits too many. A friend and me walked there from Reedham on a grey bank holiday, which is the only way to see Yarmouth. It made Blackpool and Weston-super-Mare seem classy - which is quite an achievement!
 
Coastaljames said:
nfn.PNG



;)
Click to expand...

Ahhhh now, I know this one. That picture was taken by Roger Ballen in South Africa in the 1990s. The man and his twin brother were photographed in their remote rural home, where their odd features were put down to inbreeding. The available pool of possible (i.e. white) partners was quite small, the story went, so cousins often married and their offspring were less than healthy.

Here's the original -

Dresie-and-Casie-twins-Western-Transvaal-1993.jpg
 
escargot1 said:
Ahhhh now, I know this one. That picture was taken by Roger Ballen in South Africa in the 1990s. The man and his twin brother were photographed in their remote rural home, where their odd features were put down to inbreeding. The available pool of possible (i.e. white) partners was quite small, the story went, so cousins often married and their offspring were less than healthy.

Here's the original -

Dresie-and-Casie-twins-Western-Transvaal-1993.jpg
Click to expand...

They're Dresie and Casie from Traansval who probably have Fragile-X genetic syndrome which causes learning difficulties . Fragile X could be caused by inbreeding but it also occurs as a spontaneous or inherited genetic trait. They now reside (since 2010) in a residential home for people with learning disabilities.

There is quite a bit of background information for the brothers including some up to date photos - they are described as "kind and jovial fellows" I think their photo has been ripped off for any old 'inbreeding' jokes or humour pages when the truth of their lives is more complex.

tumblr_inline_n5tcmz2A1x1rvjsgt.jpg


tumblr_inline_n5tcqhvbLe1rvjsgt.jpg


"They say she [their mother] was sad about the undignified representation of her sons. It’s hard to believe the two guys who now live in the nursing home are the ones in the photograph. Casie and Driesie laugh most of the time. Driesie, especially, is obsessively neat and constantly tidies up his wardrobe.

They were born in Outjo, Namibia, but as adults spent a while living in Wolmaransstad with their mother. When she died 16 years ago, they returned to Namibia to be looked after by family.

“They were four months old when people realised something was awry. The doctors said the brain cells that control speech, the hands and saliva, those cells were dead,” says their sister-in-law, who was their main caregiver. From early on they were like Jacob and Esau. Driesie followed his mother around while Casie worked in the garden. She says: “Actually, they’re very intelligent. Driesie has used my automatic washing machine. He knows when it’s finished and can hang up the washing. And Casie can change an electric wall socket.”

http://casesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/roger-ballens-photograph-and-search-for.html (possible diagnosis)

http://hermanverwey.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/two-kindly-jovial-fellows.html
 
Back to Great Yarmouth: I've only visited the place on sailing trips, and I never spent much time in the town itself. But visiting on a boat is like being a child playing on a doorstep, who is both indoors and outdoors at the same time...

Here's a story I last told here nearly two years ago:

Back in the 80's, I was skippering a boat with a teenage crew, and we put in to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. One of the kids had a guitar and a Beatles' songbook, and one of the songs they sang was 'Norwegian Wood'.

Next day I was humming this song, and the second mate said "I see you picked that up off the kids, then!"

After a moment's thought, I replied, "I knew that song before any of these kids were born!" ;)
 
davidplankton said:
Yes, I watched a vid on youtube yesterday where they described the beach at Cromer as 'lovely and sandy'.
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That's stretching it a bit to be fair, there are stones here but if you've got common sense you just don't put your towel over them .. or you just move them out of the way. It's not a luxurious white sands beach.
 
Swifty said:
That's stretching it a bit to be fair, there are stones here but if you've got common sense you just don't put your towel over them .. or you just move them out of the way. It's not a luxurious white sands beach.
Click to expand...
It looks pretty gorgeous to me (at least in that photo).
 
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