Hey guys Amidst all this blasted breeding drama I have swapped in a couple of new pairs and let some of the more disastrous ones back into the flights for a bit. Anyway, one of the hens I put in was rearing to go in the aviary and quickly settled into the nest box. I noticed her egg bum at about day 8, and on day 9 she was really quite swollen. She was very heavy in the vent area.

 

Had a look yesterday and saw this monster (the egg next to it is a normal sized egg from another nest that was clear, i borrowed it just for the photo):

 

 

 

OUCH! I feel sorry for her having to push that out! I have candled it and it appears to be a double yolker. It should be fertile, but I know most double yolkers dont survive the hatching process or even make it that far due to limited space/air. It seems like a very accommodating sized egg though - would have as good a chance as a double yolker could get i imagine.

Holy Toledo, your right I do feel sorry for that hen.

I have had one successful set of twins hatch from a large egg like that. Three other sets of twins didnt make it. Chances are very slim, but it can happen.

Good luck and keep us posted on the double yolker!!!

 

i just think its absolutely amazing how eggs can have two babies in them

i know that twins in mammals is a regular occurence but their are two ovaries they can grow in,

 

when its an egg thats just amazing!!

two babies in the one capsule

good luck and i hope to see these twins in the near future!

 

PS: will they be identical?

PPS: make sure to post pics of them!

 

Alpaca boy

i know that twins in mammals is a regular occurence but their are two ovaries they can grow in,

Alpaca..........back to Mum and Dad for the lecture on the birds and bees Babies do not grow in the ovaries. Womb........and theres only one womb.

PS: will they be identical?Alpaca boy

No. If they were identical they would be sharing one egg sac and definitely would not survive. I had twins hatch and they were both sky dominant pieds, one male one female and slightly different. Two seperate babies in one egg.

 

My twins topic http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....83&hl=twins

and a photo

 

twins in an egg that didnt make it http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....29&hl=twins

Edited September 2, 201014 yr by KAZ

Good luck and keep us posted on the double yolker!!!

 

i just think its absolutely amazing how eggs can have two babies in them

i know that twins in mammals is a regular occurence but their are two ovaries they can grow in,

 

when its an egg thats just amazing!!

two babies in the one capsule

good luck and i hope to see these twins in the near future!

 

PS: will they be identical?

PPS: make sure to post pics of them!

 

Alpaca boy

 

I think it's even more amazing when you know how budgies produce eggs. To save me writing it out, here is a quote:

 

• Most birds have only one ovary and one oviduct. In early stages of embryonic development, each female bird has two ovaries; only the left one develops into a functional organ. In some birds, such as hawks, the right ovary and oviduct usually develop. A mature ovary looks like a cluster of grapes. and may contain up to 4,000 small ova which can develop into mature ova.
  
• With fertilization, the ovum (egg) becomes a developing embryo
  
• The embryo passes through the oviduct; typically takes about 24 hours (for passerines & most other birds)
  
• The demand for calcium to make the egg shell is very high, and so the circulating levels of blood calcium in birds are greatly elevated compared to mammals, typically twice as much.

Source: Avian Reproduction

 

Here is a picture of the ovary which DOES explain visually how a double yolker would be possible (if two yolk 'buds' developed and released simultaneously instead of maturing one after the other). As you can see - the yolk is fertilised well before the egg begins even forming:

 

 

The process of encasing this yolk once released (ovulation) is here:

 

 

Here is some more info:

 

DOUBLE YOLK EGGS:

Double Yolkers appear when ovulation occurs too rapidly, or when one yolk somehow gets "lost" and is joined by the next yolk. Double yolkers may be by a pullet whose productive cycle is not yet well synchronized. They're occasionally laid by a heavy-breed hen, often as an inherited trait.

 

Source: Poultry help website

 

Because of the internal changes to the layout of the air sack etc and the lack of space, double yolkers rarely hatch successfully alpaca boy. I know of a few that were fertile, but died when they ran out of space, or perhaps the movement of one chick disrupted the yolk/amniotic sac of the other chick and killed it etc. I will cross my fingers but the chances are slim!

 

Also, they are twins, but they will be fraternal twins not identical Fraternal means they shared an egg but are from different embryos.

Edited September 2, 201014 yr by KAZ

I have a hen in the nest at the moment , remember that crazy hen that attacked me well she layed 8 eggs this round, the first one clear and the next 5 hatched and the second last was a huge egg, twice the size of all other eggs, it was a monster of an egg. It looked like it started to be fertile but the stopped, so died. and the last egg normal and clear.

I was going to take a photo but I forgot and threw it out. but really I have never seen an egg that big.

The photo really doesnt do these eggs justice! When I saw it i was literally It looked like a small football

So did mine Dean, I have false plastic eggs and they are huge compared to the budgie eggs, but I love them because they stop the hen laying to heavy on the hens. Well this egg was bigger than these false eggs. poor hen must of been in so much pain .

Here is my huge egg, I thought I tossed it but it was still in the nest and it was clear and I can only see one yolk. It's the egg on the left and the one in the middle is a normal budgie egg and it is quite big in it's own right and the egg on the right is my false egg which is very big.

But you can see how huge the egg the hen layed, ouch must of hurt.

I have a double yolker in a nest too, to a first time Mum. Candled it today and its fertile and developing then I remembered that her mother also had double yolkers in the odd nest or two before

I have a double yolker in a nest too, to a first time Mum. Candled it today and its fertile and developing then I remembered that her mother also had double yolkers in the odd nest or two before

 

So is this a ( I can't think of the right word....) like history/parent gene passed through to relatives, that we are dealing with?

I have a double yolker in a nest too, to a first time Mum. Candled it today and its fertile and developing then I remembered that her mother also had double yolkers in the odd nest or two before

 

So is this a ( I can't think of the right word....) like history/parent gene passed through to relatives, that we are dealing with?

I dont know for sure. Could be a coincidence

I've read somewhere that they don't hatch sometimes because they get really brittle?

I have a double yolker in a nest too, to a first time Mum. Candled it today and its fertile and developing then I remembered that her mother also had double yolkers in the odd nest or two before

 

So is this a ( I can't think of the right word....) like history/parent gene passed through to relatives, that we are dealing with?

 

Possibly, and it would likely mean a genetic trait that causes a bird to ovulate irregularly since that is the main reason for double yolkers. Good chance it is inheritable, or at least repeatable for a hen thats done it once.

 

By the way, my double yolker has two little embryos visible as of today. One is appearing a tiny bit more developed than the other - uneven heat distribution related to yolk location in the egg perhaps.

I've read somewhere that they don't hatch sometimes because they get really brittle?

NO. They dont hatch mostly because the growing chicks run out of space and nutrients in the egg.

I have a double yolker in a nest too, to a first time Mum. Candled it today and its fertile and developing :yes: then I remembered that her mother also had double yolkers in the odd nest or two before

 

So is this a ( I can't think of the right word....) like history/parent gene passed through to relatives, that we are dealing with?

 

Possibly, and it would likely mean a genetic trait that causes a bird to ovulate irregularly since that is the main reason for double yolkers. Good chance it is inheritable, or at least repeatable for a hen thats done it once.

 

By the way, my double yolker has two little embryos visible as of today. One is appearing a tiny bit more developed than the other - uneven heat distribution related to yolk location in the egg perhaps.

Ah, yes genetic was the word! Any chance of one chick hatching (the bigger one) and the other chick being to young to survive?

How is your double yolker going ?

 

I had two in one nest actually....they just died in shell. They were the only two fertile eggs in that nest. She now has three foster eggs.

 

Here's the photos

 

First egg........( note one chick died sooner than the other )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second egg from same nest

 

 

 

 

note in the second egg there is one plum eyed baby and one dark eyed baby.

Edited September 21, 201014 yr by KAZ

The first egg with the older chick looks quite advanced. When was it due to hatch?

 

This thread is amazing :rip:

The first egg with the older chick looks quite advanced. When was it due to hatch?

 

This thread is amazing :rip:

Was due in around 4-5 days from memory.

My double yolker had two little heart beats at day 4, night 5 there was apparently some sort of night fright, 2 hens off nest including double yolker hen. Lost both nests of eggs, hens went right out of brooding mode and would not lay again, both in the flights now.