Egg gender selection survey

lazy gardener

Crossing the Road
7 Years
Nov 7, 2012
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Ok folks, here's my first attempt at posting a survey to go along with the egg shaped gender experiment that some of us have been playing with. If any one has access to the study that was published regarding this topic, feel free to post in this thread. The purpose of this survey is only to collect data to answer this question: Does the shape of a chicken egg indicate the gender of the chick that will hatch from it?

The theory was posed in a study that male eggs have the following profile: They are more pointed, the difference is greater when measured at the widest circumference vertically and horizontally. In other words, male eggs are often more pointed. They are also a bit longer and skinnier. While female eggs are often more rounded. It was also found that male eggs/chicks are often larger. While this method is far from foolproof, the studies done have indicated that gender percentages can be influenced. Please reserve opinions and comments for the BOTTOM of the comment section. Thank you all for your participation in this study.

Who can participate? Any one who will be hatching eggs during 2016, either by incubator or by broody hen. Any one who has data from previous hatches, either random or gender shape selected.

How do I select eggs? The ideal test sample will be collected from 7 - 10 days worth of eggs from a backyard flock. Eggs will then be candled and selected for incubation. If a particular hen's eggs can be identified by color OR shape, those should be set into one group. The participant can then view those eggs as a group, and select the eggs from that group that most nearly favor the female profile. This selected clutch would be entering the experiment as "female selected". If a participant has a smaller sampling of eggs available, and a means to divide the incubator/groups of eggs, the participant can then set both male and female selected groups. Mark each group accordingly, and band the chicks as they hatch. Of course, particularly helpful in this survey are Sex-Linked or Auto-sexing eggs. Otherwise, each hatch will need to be followed until they can be gender id. Got a hen who lays nothing but torpedo shaped eggs? Include her eggs in the study. Choose the least pointed torpedo's but mark those eggs. It may be possible that some hens, like some human families favor producing offspring of only one gender.

How do I complete the survey? Please make a separate entry for every hatch.

Above all else, PLEASE HAVE FUN WITH THIS!!! This is not a pass or fail experiment. This is a way to dabble with data collection, and see if you can influence your flock's population of pullets in the next generation.

I was not able to do a formal survey format with these questions. So, when you fill out the survey for each hatch, please copy or quote the survey questions, then either enter your response to each question in bold print, italics, or colored font. I'll occasionally try to make sense of the numbers, and compile them in an easy to read format. If any computer geeks can help me with this, I'll gladly accept the help!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. How many eggs to choose from for this incubation?

2. How many eggs set based on "female profile"?

3. How many eggs survived to day 18?

4. How many chicks hatched?

5. Percentage of pullets in this hatch?

6. Hatch date?

7. Comments: Include: Was this random gender selected hatch, or a female gender selected hatch? Were you able to identify any particular hen's eggs and select from those as a distinct group? Were there any issues that might have affected your outcome? (for example temp. fluctuations, or other issues that affected hatch outcome) Any other observations or comments pertinent to this survey?
 
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1. How many eggs to choose from for this incubation? 6

2. How many eggs set based on "female profile"? Random selection. not gender selected.

3. How many eggs survived to day 18? 5

4. How many chicks hatched? 5

5. Percentage of pullets in this hatch? 2/5 = 40%

6. Hatch date? ? 3/2013

7. Comments: First hatch in home made incubator. Donated eggs from friend's back yard flock.
 
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First gender selected hatch. Date 4/13/15

1. How many eggs to choose from for this incubation? ? Possibly 40

2. How many eggs set based on "female profile"? 18 female profile. 12 not gender selected.

3. How many eggs survived to day 18? Not sure

4. How many chicks hatched? 19

5. Percentage of pullets in this hatch? 12 females/7 males = 63% female

6. Hatch date? 4/13/15

7. Comments: See the following notes copied from my gender experiment:

FINAL RESULTS ARE IN!!! My gender selection experiment was a success. Per initial post, eggs were selected according to shape, with the eggs having the most rounded profile when comparing length to width. 19 chicks were hatched. Of those eggs that hatched, there were 7 males and 12 females. Resulting in 37 % male, 63% female. My typical hatch is at least 60% male to 40% or less female.
Of further interest is that 6 of those males were sex links (EE x Dominique). Those eggs were NOT selected according to shape, as they were destined to be my control group in this hatch. However, in the excitement of the hatch, I failed to make note of which of those control eggs had the "male" profile, and which had the "female" profile. There were 6 males, and 6 females in the EE x Dom group, giving a 50/50 ratio.
So, taking the EE x Doms out of the picture, the other chicks produced a ratio of 6 females to 1 males.
Factors that may have had an effect on these results: My hens may have been throwing more "female" eggs at the time. I had a few eggs that didn't hatch. They may have carried male chicks. They were on a high protein feed and that feed was fermented. Could it be that, just as in a year when food is abundant, animals have larger litters/broods, a higher protein diet would favor production of more female offspring?
Given the results of this experiment, it bears repetition. I may do a repeat on this experiment later in the summer/early fall. I'd urge others who are incubating, and who have an abundance of eggs available to duplicate the experiment to see if they have similar results.
 
gender selected hatch with broody hen

1. How many eggs to choose from for this incubation? ? 20

2. How many eggs set based on "female profile"? 8

3. How many eggs survived to day 18? 6

4. How many chicks hatched? 6

5. Percentage of pullets in this hatch? 4/6 = 67%

6. Hatch date? August 2015

7. Comments: All chicks except for one cockrel in this group were able to be gender identified at hatch based on feather coloring, sex linking, or shank color.
 
Data lost for second gender selected hatch, done in incubator. Set 25 eggs, 23 eggs survived to lock down, 22 eggs hatched. As I recall, pullet % was 60%. This data will not be added to final survey results. Hatch date approximately 5/5/15.
 
I will be following this thread. I will hatch with the broodies only so I will have less eggs to incubate. I chose less pointy eggs in december and as only 2 hatched I don't know what the others would have been. but these 2 are pullets
yippiechickie.gif
 
1. How many eggs to choose from for this incubation? 5

2. How many eggs set based on "female profile"? 5

3. How many eggs survived to day 18? 4

4. How many chicks hatched? 4

5. Percentage of pullets in this hatch? 3/4 = 75%

6. Hatch date? 2/13/2016

I love the instant gratification of sexlinked chicks.
 
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Just a reminder to everybody entering data in this survey. Please copy or quote the question list from the first post. Then add your responses to each question as I did when reporting my first few hatches. See posts # 2, 4, 5, and J.B.'s post # 8. Even if you had a less than stellar hatch, follow the questions, and respond to each question, as it will make it easier to compile the data at the end of the survey. Thanks for responses, and keep adding data!
I will be following this thread. I will hatch with the broodies only so I will have less eggs to incubate. I chose less pointy eggs in december and as only 2 hatched I don't know what the others would have been. but these 2 are pullets
yippiechickie.gif
That's still a 100%!

Don't forget, enter your data even if it doesn't support the hypothesis.
 
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1. How many eggs to choose from for this incubation? 8

2. How many eggs set based on "female profile"? 6

3. How many eggs survived to day 18? 4

4. How many chicks hatched? 4

5. Percentage of pullets in this hatch? 1/4

6. Hatch date? Oct 2015

7. Comments: Last hatch of the season, temperatures were low and the hatch was late
 

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