Two Chicks From One Egg!

The story of how one double yolked egg hatched twins!

It all began when I plucked some big ol' eggs from the nests for several days in a row sometime in October.  I candled them and was able to see two yolks in each one.  These eggs just seemed so special and we had so many of them that I decided to set three of them in my home-made incubator.  After hearing so many people say that they had tried and failed at double yolkers, I was a little sceptical, but I was scientifically interested in how it might turn out (and I decided that these chicks deserved a chance just like any others)!

Candling the eggs

At day 17 I candled them again and one had stopped developing early so I disposed of it.  The other two seemed very full.  Indeed they were full!
On November 9th I candled them again and could see that one egg had pipped internally into the air cell in the large end.  The next night (Nov. 10) was day 20 and 19 respectively for my eggs and I heard peeping from the one on day 20!!  There was no pip yet and I was afraid to start helping without it at least pipping on it's own.

I held off on the intervention until the next day, Nov 11th, day 21 the day for my first egg to hatch.  In the morning when I got up it was not pipped, so I still couldn't bring myself to "help".  I had to go to work and that was probably a life saver...I didn't have to sit and wait for something to happen.  When I came home for lunch break there was a PIP on the small end of the egg!!!! That pretty much confirmed for me that there were two live chicks in that egg.  I consulted my friends on BYC (Back Yard Chickens), because I really wanted this hatch to be successful.  From then on I think I was on pins and needles (along with many other BYC'ers) until it was all over.

Assisted Hatch

My heart raced and my hands started shaking and I had to make a quick decision.   Since there was one in both ends and the one in the large end had pipped internally the day before but not pipped externally, I was afraid it was getting low on oxygen.  I couldn't leave to go back to work without at least pipping it on the large end so it could breathe.  I pipped it on the large end and placed a moist paper towel around the opening to keep the exposed membrane moist.  When I came back home, I began helping the twins out of their egg.  Later that evening I helped the other twins hatch, but sadly, only one was alive in that second double yolker.

All three are doing well, and we refer to them as the triplets.  I believe the larger of the twins is a cockerel and he looks a lot like his daddy, Perkins, who is a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte.  The other two chicks look like their mother, who is a red star hen named Jetty.  I am pretty sure they are both pullets.  I have recently named them Greta (Triplet), Reba (Smaller Twin), and Hank (Larger Twin). 

The pictures of the "triplets" at 1 day, 3 weeks, 7 weeks, and yesterday (which was 13 weeks old).

The following youtube video shows the assisted hatch.

Remember, under normal circumstances, you should not attempt to help chicks out of their shell. A chick will not emerge until it has absorbed all of the yolk sack which can take many hours. This can be frustrating if you are watching it emerge!

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