No Geography/History Egg Surprises

We just didn’t get the time this week to work on a Geography or History lesson. I thought I would share though a few interesting things that we have been up to and some interesting facts that Selena has really caught on to through our little lessons.

She is obsessed with Volcanoes. Now every time she sees a mountain or a hill that for some reason has a cloud around the top of it, she informs me it is a volcano. She goes through the whole explanation of what makes it a volcano.

We have several rivers in our area, we cross a river no matter which direction we drive. She use to always comment on how beautiful the bridge is now she just informs me that here is a river making it’s way to the ocean.

She has always loved to look for the Flag of the United States of America. Now she is constantly looking for the Flag of the State of Washington as well. Anytime she sees the US Flag, she looks to see if there is a State flag hanging there too. I am so looking forward to going on vacation this year and taking her to Idaho, to see if she discovers when we cross the State border. Also I am curious to see what she will think about seeing the State of Idaho’s flag instead of Washington State’s flag. I guess you know we will be looking at Idaho here real soon in our geography lessons.  

This next part is not related to Geography or  History at all, but I just had to share. This weekend Papa brought home a dozen eggs from the same store we always purchase eggs. When I opened the eggs I just knew that these eggs had come from a different Chicken Farm. They just were not the shiny white that we are use to getting. Upon a closer look I discovered that some of the eggs were just a slight bit larger then the rest in the carton. I wondered if I still remembered how to candle an egg. At this point Papa thought I was loosing my mind, but I proceeded on to darken the kitchen and by using a flashlight (normally a farmer would use a 60 watt shop light or grow light for this) I began to candle the eggs. I made two piles, one was a pile I felt might be eggs with multiple yolks, and the other just single yolks.

Since we were having eggs for dinner that night I opened 3 of the 5 eggs that I felt might have multiple yolks and surprise look what I found:

 

All three eggs had two yokes!

To candle an egg means to dim all the lights, and hold the egg over a bright light as to look through the shell of the egg. This is done by farmers for numerous reasons, the most common is to look for abnormalities, blood spots, and bacteria that may be present in the egg. In the right conditions though one can make out the present of two or more yolks in an egg. You can also tell if an egg has been fertilized there for holding a chick. For the most part though chicken farmers raising hens to sell eggs don’t worry so much about the later, as they keep the roosters away from the hens that are producing the eggs for market.

Now keep in mind that the ratio is generally 1 in 1000 that you will find a double yolk egg. While there are a few incidences where a double yolk eggs when fertilized will produce two chicks, more then not the chicks do not survive to be hatched. Young hens are more likely to produce eggs with double yolks, as they have a tendency to release two yolks at ovulation.  There has been some who think that there are particular types or breeds of hens that  will cause this phenomenon more frequently, while there can be some genetic changes that can cause this there truly isn’t one particular type of hen that will produce this phenomenon on a regular basis. So much has to do with the age of the hen.

We still have two eggs to go, to see if I all my guessing was correct or not. I will let you know when we use them. I think I have proved my point with my dear husband, and also I think Selena thinks I did a little magic, as she keeps asking me to make the funny looking eggs again! I must admit I was a little surprised that I remembered how to candle an egg after all these years!