Want to improve the chances of getting more hens than cockerels BEFORE hatching? Well yes, I would.
I have heard a few things that may or may not improve the chances of getting more hens and not so many cockerels before hatching, if you can believe it! That
certainly would be useful to me, we're not into killing them and there may be limits as to how many we can give away or sell. We certainly can't keep
them! One option is to leave them out in the wild and apease Mr Fox, but we did that last year and they have a habit of hanging around the coop (until they
"mysteriously" disappear), which is not where we want them.
What I would like to suggest is an experiment with a few strategies that "someone said" that work. Here are the things to try:
1. When the moon's phase increases (waxes) there is more chance of the chicks hatching being male. When the moon's phase decreases (wanes) there is
more chance of chick hatching being female.
With this is mind I shall only let eggs that have been layed in the waning moon phase to be alllowed to hatch. I don't really see how gender and moon
phases can be connected, but it's worth a try.
2. Another thing to do is to look at the shape of the eggs. "Pointy eggs" are supposedly male and "rounded" eggs are supposedly female.
Keep rounded eggs for hatching and eat pointed eggs.
3. I have a vague memory of being told in agricultural college that certain temperatures can help influence the gender. But I can't remember what
temperatures, and of course I rely mainly on broody hens, so that'll be difficult to adjust! If I can find out what the reference was I'll report back.
Unless someone here has heard something similar?
At the moment I have five eggs that should hatch at the end of this month. They were layed in the "cockerel" moon, so in theory they should produce
more cockerels than hens. I haven't looked at their shapes yet, but I'll do that today. I should have more pointy eggs than round eggs and the same
ratio (unless I can't distinguish between proper pointy and rounded) should be in the chicks.
My basic attitude is that I don't think it's going to make too much of a difference, if at all, and yet I haven't got anything to lose from trying
so I might as well give it a go to see what happens.
Would anyone like to join me in this experiment?
Or if you have tried any or all of these what has been the results?
0 Kudo
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Hatch More Hens Strategies!
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 treegod |
Hatch More Hens Strategies! |
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Posts: 33 08/21/09 02:43 AM |
Last Edited By: treegod 08/21/09 02:46 AM.
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treegod |
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Posts: 34 08/21/09 02:23 PM |
I think I need something like this working! Today I discover something, or rather their are signs of "could be" but nothing definite yet. My Eowyn,
the chick we've been thinking was female shows signs of not being female. "She" looks so female though, the way she behaves, the position of her
body. It's convincing.
However the tail looks suspicious. She has dark feathers, but sprouting from the ends are little fluffy things that curve down like a cockerels tale and upon closer examination the dark tail feathers are showing horrible signs of a sheen, like a cockerels tail. I think, maybe it's just hormones doing funny things, but then I remember last year where a "hen" turned into a monstrous cockerel (he was monstrous, his cluck was a dinosaur scream! raaah)The plan is that we breed our own hens and buy cockerels in, but so far it's looking the other way around! These experiments had better work! grrr... Oh yes, I checked the eggs to see if they're pointy or round; two pointies and three rounds. Two cockerels and three hens? I'll have to wait and see. |
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mailmam71 |
#2 | |||
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Posts: 1239 08/23/09 08:16 AM |
I think I read once that chosing eggs for hatching to avoid the pointy ones, anyone else have experience with that? A friend of mine wants to hatch in an
incubator and asked me for some colored eggs. So far the only colored eggs I'm getting are pointy. I'm not even sure my eggs are very fertile, Herbert
isn't as conciencious about that as his son was, but I'll give him eggs with the disclaimer and see what happens. Julie
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BeckT |
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Posts: 5064 08/23/09 02:39 PM "Birds of a feather flock...to ME!" |
My broody just hatched 3 eggs. 1 was pointy and the other 2 were not. This will be a good test to see if this theory works. I know which one came out of the
pointy egg and will try and update on its sex when we can tell. The lady I got the eggs from says the same thing about the pointy eggs.
I'm no spring chicken, but I'm still kickin
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treegod |
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Posts: 35 08/24/09 10:35 AM |
I've organised the eggs; pointy under one broody hen and rounded under the other, which is good because I don't always know which chick hatched out of
which egg.
Just one week to go. I might even find out straight away with some, one chick this year (Crow, one I gave away recently) came out with a row of clearly defined little bumps on his head when he hatched. Most chicks don't even have that. |
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BeckT |
#5 | |||
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Posts: 5070 08/25/09 05:03 PM "Birds of a feather flock...to ME!" |
I was talking to my friend today about your experiment and she was told the higher the temps more likley hens. But she was not quite sure of the temp.
Something like 102. I don't know if that sounds right or not, cause I never used a bater. Just broodys.
I'm no spring chicken, but I'm still kickin
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treegod |
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Posts: 36 08/26/09 02:20 AM |
Thanks BeckT. That could be helpful in the future. I'd still like to rely on broodies (nothing like 'em!) to set and rear, but using an incubator might
be useful to influence the gender. Incubate the eggs at the "hen" temperature and then, just before or just after they hatch, introduce them to a
broody hen.
I was thinking, since the last few years we've had mainly males, that there's something about the environment or our hens that produces more males than females. 1 cockerel and 0 hens in '07, 5 cockerels and 1 hen '08, and 2 definite cockerel and one suspected cockerel this year so far. But that's only counting the chicks that survived to adulthood and not lost through bad luck or human error. |
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treegod |
#7 | |||
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Posts: 37 08/26/09 02:27 AM |
"Incubate the eggs at the "hen" temperature and then, just before or just after they hatch, introduce them to a broody hen."
I don't know if that'd work or if it's good for the chicks, but I'm going to look into how it could happen. I've adopted chicks to a broody hen before and that worked well. |
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treegod |
#8 | |||
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Posts: 46 08/30/09 05:16 AM |
Update: Big Yellow and Little Yellow come from the rounded eggs, though Little Yellow has a little serated comb already, indicating "maleness."
Blacky and Stripey have both come from the pointed egg.
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BeckT |
#9 | |||
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Posts: 5102 09/21/09 06:35 PM "Birds of a feather flock...to ME!" |
Just a loittle update on my hatch. The 2 chicks that came out of the rounded eggs I'm 99% sure are little roos. The one out of the pointy egg I am 90% sure
is a little girl. The 4th egg which was rounded I am 50% sure is a girl. That just kinda blows that therory. lol
I'm no spring chicken, but I'm still kickin
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speckledhen |
#10 | |||
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Posts: 6132 10/02/09 09:06 PM |
If that worked, hatcheries would never hatch more roosters than they needed. It's an old wives tale.
Cynthia
Somewhere in the South |
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Dustin Biery |
#11 | |||
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Posts: 825 10/12/09 07:29 PM |
I really think that external ambient temperatures vary the male to female ratio. As the summer gets hotter, I always hatch more males than females. I dont know
why, but that is how it has worked for me with broodies and bators. It is something to do with the birds themselves. I dont know if its the body temps being
increased from the outside temps or what, but I will really put an emphasis on this next year as the dog days of summer begin.
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Georgiapea |
#12 | |||
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Posts: 82 11/19/09 10:51 PM |
I read about increasing the heat of the incubator at X number of days into incubation to affect the gender of the hatch. I've also seen this theory
rebutted. Another theory, which I haven't seen mentioned with regards to chickens is that the species will attempt to keep their numbers equal. So when
we eliminate most all the males the flock will attempt to right that. I personally take all this 'theorizing' with a grain of salt.
Georgia in Alabama |
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- General and Social Discussion
- Disease, Cures and Emergencies!
- Eggs to Hatch and Beyond
- Chicken Behaviors
- Coops and Runs
- Predators and Pests
- Poultry show and swap meet listings
- Buy ~ Sell ~ Trade ~ Giveaways
- Breeds in General
- Breeders & Backyard Hatcheries
- Meat Birds and Other Poultry
- reference material, med and disease info
- Egg & Chicken Recipes
- Notable Archives
