My grandfather ran a chicken farm when I was a little kid (a cage-free operation, not that it was expressly labeled as such back then). Every single egg was held up in front of a lightbulb in a darkened room to check for abnormalities before it was put into a crate and sold. Double yolks and other ones were disposed of. I'm sure there's a similar (though more industrial) system nowadays. It's not that they aren't produced; it's that they aren't sent to market because some people consider them undesirable.
I'm sure that's what it is. If something isn't coming out the way it's supposed to it usually indicates there is a problem with it. Who knows, maybe double yolk eggs have a higher correlation with having a salmonella strand in them vs. normal eggs?
I'm surprised at how omnivorous our chickens are. They eat pretty much anything.
Ants, spiders off the play equipment, meal worms (they are like catnip to a chicken), windfall apples, they hop in the strawberry trough and clean up the ones we've left, bread scraps, grass.....oh and chicken food too.
It isn't widely available in the UK these days. Back in the days when horses were still the main way of pulling things around, there were plenty of horsemeat butchers who were selling the meat from 'retired' working horses. It was cheap meat.
In many other European countries, horses are bred for eating and the meat is quite a delicacy. It's relatively pricey, I believe. You get specialist horsemeat butchers (rather like you used to get specialist pork butchers in the north of England, although that's something else that has died out in recent years.)
PS: horsemeat is very tasty. It's very similar to beef, but slightly 'gamier'.
There is nothing wrong with double yolks. Twins are a fairly common phenomenon in nature. If the double yolk eggs are being discarded then I view that as a waste of resources. If they are not being produced, then that would indicate to me that the chickens are being raised in a less than idea environment which is contributing to abnormally low production of twin eggs - perhaps through stress or nutritional deficiencies.
I think double-yolkers tend to occur in eggs laid by younger hens and usually means the hen has popped out two yolks instead of one. Far from being a problem they are coveted in our house (and are greeted by a reverent sigh when cracked into the frying pan )- as our hens are getting older we haven't had one for months.
In regards to horse etc, I have never understood the weird western preferences when it comes to meat. Pig and cow, fab. Dog and cat? No. Sheep yes, goat often no. Horse sometimes. Pigeon in a game pie along with pheasant if you're in the country, but not if it's a London pigeon (though I suspect they'd be too diseased to countenance). Hare and rabbit yes, Guinea Pig no.
There is nothing but meaningless tradition behind those choices. I know a number of people who have eaten dog and found it tasty, I liked goat when I tried it, and guinea pig was fine too.
I tried horse while in Italy. I thought it was terrible. Maybe it was the cut or how it was prepared, I don't plan on ever eating it again to find out! I enjoyed the dog I tried. I didn't know what it was when I ate it but I did know when I went for seconds!
I've been lucky to be able to travel to several foreign countries where protein is protein regardless of its origins. Pretty much any animal is fare for the table depending on where you live I suppose. I still can't eat bugs like they do in asia though...
You're joking, right? What I saw was deft, silent use of the meat-cleaver. Very quick - so quick that neither you or the chicken would realise what had happened.
You'd think using a club would ruin the meat - bruising it and all.