egg parts

[iwanteggs]

I want to make sure I understand the parts of an egg.
One of the other discussions mentioned a double yoke egg would develop twins.

I thought the yoke fed the fertilized cell inside the egg. Not that the yoke would become a chicken.

To compare to humans:

Egg shell..........................external uterus
Yolk .................................umbilical cord
White ..............................ambiotic fluid

Sorry about graphic comparison but I just want to be clear.

 

[Varisha]

I do belive the yolk = baby

 

[keljonma]

The yolk is not the baby.

Here are 3 sites that explain it....in detail

http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_parts_embryo.html

http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_chicks_embryo.html

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res27-timing.html



if edited, probably for typos...

 

[marie_martin]

I think the baby forms on the side of the yolk. Can't quite remember the terminology for it but it is not the actual yolk. You are right. The yolk is what the baby is sustained by and it will be absorbed by the chick just prior to hatching. It is not an actual part of the body, it is like an umbilical cord in that is provided nutrition to the developing chick. I am pretty new to this but have read a lot and that is my understanding. For instance, I had a chick hatch, fully formed who had not absorbed the yolk at all and of course it died. But the yolk, although attached to the chick like an umbilical cord, is not part of the chicken. But it has to be absorbed prior to hatch. Does that help. Anyone out there with the right terminology?

Marie

 

[iwanteggs]

Thank you keljonma for those web sites. Everyone with any questions should read those. Marie the proper terms are there.

I have a thick head. I'm still not clear as to an egg with two yolks being able to develop into a healthy chick or does two yolks mean two embryos.

 

[iwanteggs]

I mean two embryos released not that the yolks were embryos.

 

[marie_martin]

from what i have read here, they can develop to a certain point but the egg shell does not allow enough room for both to completely develope so they would parish before fully developing.

Marie

 

[SkeeredChicken]

out of curiousity, I wonder if you could carefully separate them out at a certain point and still have them grow......

 

[Blisschick]

Separating them would be impossible. The membrane inside the egg acts like a placenta, allowing gas exchange between the chick and the outside world via the shell. If that membrane is broken in any way, it will bleed to death. This is why you are discouraged from helping a chick hatch, because the blood drains from the membrane over a period of time and is absorbed by the chick.

Chicks do posses an umbilical cord which is attached to the membrane. I'm not sure of the mechanics of it, but I think it surrounds the yolk in a network of blood vessels, and during the last few days, the yolk is absorbed into the abdomen of the chick through the umbilical opening. That stringy stuff you see on the chick's belly after it's hatched is the umbilical cord. It dries up and falls off in a couple of days.