Mahonri's 3rd Annual, BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[HortonFarms]

I'm intrigued. Egg sexing??

For anyone who missed my earlier post or is unsure about my (attempted) explanation.

Check this out: http://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-farming/buying-fertilized-chicken-eggs-zmaz74zhol.aspx
or
http://www.chickenkeepingsecrets.com/chicken-eggs/egg-shape-as-indication-of-the-sex-of-a-chick/

 

[HortonFarms]

For anyone who missed my earlier post or is unsure about my (attempted) explanation.

Check this out: http://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-farming/buying-fertilized-chicken-eggs-zmaz74zhol.aspx
or
http://www.chickenkeepingsecrets.com/chicken-eggs/egg-shape-as-indication-of-the-sex-of-a-chick/

It's an old farmer's tale that has proved mostly true for me. (better accuracy comes with practice)

Hold the egg in front of you with the "pointy" end down

Does the bottom (pointy end) of the egg come to a point? (kinda like a V shape bottom)

Does the bottom or the egg look rounded?

Some eggs are VERY hard to tell but as a tip, don't look at long or study it to hard, first thought is usually right. I thought it would be fun (but thought there was no truth to it), so i decided to start trying it just to test. This is the reason I use vent and feather sexing as back up. If you have sex-link chicks they would be the best to practice on, since it would not be long to know if you were right or not.

Ya'll have fun trying it....it will give you something to do while you wait.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Sounds like my honey moon!! I only wanted to sleep!! Maybe you need a couple days at a hotel!!

Quote:
Will definitely give it a try. Not likely to work on the marans eggs that I have: they are all round> all girls? would be nice!!

 

[Wisher1000]

If you're going to be keeping records like that, why not include the other old wives' method? That is what I thought you meant by egg sexing. You thread a needle and place the egg on a table. Suspend the needle over the egg and try to hold it perfectly still. The needle will eventually start to swing. Back and forth in a line is a male and around in a circle is a female. It is supposed to work on women, too.

 

[ChooksChick]

!So after DS decided to wake up and scream for four hours last night and DD waking up early this morning....I just had to fall asleep. And guess what. DS fiddled with the incubator. and the heat was 106!

I am hoping that once again they survive this heatspike. I couldn't have been more than a couple hours like that so I'm hoping the internal temps didn't shoot that thigh.

But after months of not getting to even talk to DH I finally heard his sweet wonderful voice! And he's going to either fly home on the 5th or 10th depending on if they get their job done. And its a 2 day flight...so I'm praying that on th 7th I'll have chickies AND husband.

Get the incubator out of his reach, for Pete's sakes!! It's not going to end well if you don't...

It's an old farmer's tale that has proved mostly true for me. (better accuracy comes with practice)

Hold the egg in front of you with the "pointy" end down

Does the bottom (pointy end) of the egg come to a point? (kinda like a V shape bottom)

Does the bottom or the egg look rounded?

Some eggs are VERY hard to tell but as a tip, don't look at long or study it to hard, first thought is usually right. I thought it would be fun (but thought there was no truth to it), so i decided to start trying it just to test. This is the reason I use vent and feather sexing as back up. If you have sex-link chicks they would be the best to practice on, since it would not be long to know if you were right or not.

Ya'll have fun trying it....it will give you something to do while you wait.

I have hens that consistently lay pointy eggs and others that lay round eggs...and one that appears to lay wannabe golf balls...before I had hundreds of birds I could tell exactly who laid what by shape...and I know it wasn't one hen laying all roos and another laying all pullets, etc...

Has anyone else gotten a handle on this? Is it subtle differences within a hen's standard form?

 

[Spangled]

I think this incubation has done me in, and I'm giving in to a turner. Has anyone seen a turner suitable for an LG on sale???

I'm falling alseep before the last turn of the day or sleeping late on the weekends and the eggs haven't been turned for 12 hours. Definitely didn't turn these nearly as often as I usually do.

I haven't been a good girl with the turning (tilting with a Brinsea), so I may have a poor hatch. But usually I am good. And I'm not sure that it's all doom, doom, doom if you let them go 12 hours on the week ends. Let's hope not because I'm sure I've let it go that long at least twice and maybe more.

I forget how often the instructions indicate that I'm supposed to do it. I usually try for three times a day, but I will often just turn/tilt it when I happen to see the incubator. Kind of like, "Oh, yeah, I'm incubating. I guess I should tilt the incubator." Anybody remember what the instructions say? I know ... I probably should have asked that on day 1 rather than around day 16.

When I first got the incubator, I tried for every 3 hours (except at night) which was more than was required.

I think turning is more difficult with a Little Giant, right? Do you have to open the lid and turn each egg by hand? If so, I can see why you would be wanting a turner.

I think they are called egg washing trays.

Perfect!

Usually come day 18 it's a mad dash, with styrofoam triangles and circles flying everywhere as I Edward Scissorhand up the styrofoam egg cartons to look like photo above. My styrofoam egg cartons are barely hanging together when I finish them, but they hold up the eggs and are very ventilated. But what a pain.

So I love the tray in the photo above. I would pay a king's ransom (or less

) for a few of these trays. And plan to! I don't care how flimsy they are. I am sick of even just trying to keep silly styrofoam egg cartons available for Day 18 when I don't even buy eggs from the store.

And I totally agree about the "wet mess" of which you speak regarding the cardboard egg cartons. I know cardboard cartons work for some and I say, "Great!" The cardboard cartons just didn't work for me when I tried them out. My eggs ended up sitting in water and I'm not sure that's okay. I was probably doing something wrong.

A trip to chickenstock (where I can purchase UNshipped Marans and Ameraucana hatching eggs) is looking better all the time!

I'm exhausted and must go sleep now. Goodnight.

I'm glad you have a source for UNshipped eggs. That should make all the difference for you.

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Well, it's Day 16, and there's not much to see here, folks. It's getting so dark in there that there is little difference to see day-to-day. I'm going to stop candling at lockdown, so Day 18 will be the last one.

ETA: I just locked down my Thursday-set eggs and I am exhausted. I usually use cardboard cartons, which have never gotten damp or soggy for me, but my hand got so tired from cutting that I switched to plastic. Well, that didn't go much more smoothly, and I literally spent a little over an hour cutting.
My hand hurts.

I need to find those awesome egg wash trays!
I also caved an got a second incubator. So, I've been trying to get the 2nd incubator - a new-style Genesis to go with my old-style Genesis which I love - up to temp and humidity. Well, my Brinsea Spot Check, which worked perfectly for me last year, disagrees with my 3 other thermometers, so I haven't been using it this year. So, I've been moving around water, turners, thermometers, my one hygrometer, measuring differences, etc. Sigh. I want my chicks already!

Note to self: Do not set on Thursday ever again. Monday is not suitable for lockdown frenzy.

I'm going to bed.

 

[Spangled]

It's an old farmer's tale that has proved mostly true for me. (better accuracy comes with practice)

Hold the egg in front of you with the "pointy" end down

Does the bottom (pointy end) of the egg come to a point? (kinda like a V shape bottom)

Does the bottom or the egg look rounded?

Some eggs are VERY hard to tell but as a tip, don't look at long or study it to hard, first thought is usually right. I thought it would be fun (but thought there was no truth to it), so i decided to start trying it just to test. This is the reason I use vent and feather sexing as back up. If you have sex-link chicks they would be the best to practice on, since it would not be long to know if you were right or not.

Ya'll have fun trying it....it will give you something to do while you wait.

I have hens that consistently lay pointy eggs and others that lay round eggs...and one that appears to lay wannabe golf balls...before I had hundreds of birds I could tell exactly who laid what by shape...and I know it wasn't one hen laying all roos and another laying all pullets, etc...

Has anyone else gotten a handle on this? Is it subtle differences within a hen's standard form?

I bet there's an app for that. Or will be eventually. I'm waiting for the app. I would go cross-eyed otherwise. Even vent sexing would make me go cross-eyed.

 

[kvmommy]

I think i've went to bed at 730 maybe about 12 times in my life and they were all after the kids were born! Of course, I was night owl since I was little. I can't fathom waking up at 330. Thats my bedtime.

And yes...a couple days in the hotel would be soooo awesome. I haven't told DD yet. She bugs me everyday with whining and crying about missing her daddy. So, I'm going to drop the kids with my friend so when he gets home I can freak out and scream and kiss and hold him first then we'll go to her house and surprise DD so she can have him mostly all to herself. I'm not sure DS will remember him. Im sure he will but I don't know how he's going to react. I'm definitely going to film it. I'm soooo excited. I think deployments are good for marriages because you miss your other half so much and really remember to appreciate them. Just not long deployments, those make life sooo tough. But I don't understand how many women cheat on their husbands and take their money and disappear. Its sooo cruel to their spouse. I see it all the time. It makes me sad. I love that I can trust my husband so wholeheartedly and he can trust me. He knows that he may come home to more chickens, maybe another dog...or even a hedgehog. But, he knows i'll be there waiting for him. I'm just sooooo excited!

 

[HortonFarms]

Will definitely give it a try. Not likely to work on the marans eggs that I have: they are all round> all girls? would be nice!!

If you're going to be keeping records like that, why not include the other old wives' method? That is what I thought you meant by egg sexing. You thread a needle and place the egg on a table. Suspend the needle over the egg and try to hold it perfectly still. The needle will eventually start to swing. Back and forth in a line is a male and around in a circle is a female. It is supposed to work on women, too.

I will try adding that one in for next batch just for kicks.

Get the incubator out of his reach, for Pete's sakes!! It's not going to end well if you don't...


I have hens that consistently lay pointy eggs and others that lay round eggs...and one that appears to lay wannabe golf balls...before I had hundreds of birds I could tell exactly who laid what by shape...and I know it wasn't one hen laying all roos and another laying all pullets, etc...

Has anyone else gotten a handle on this? Is it subtle differences within a hen's standard form?

I usually compare them within their own groups (different breeds, etc) and look for small differences


Again, this is not the only form of sexing I use. I do this to compare to traditional sexing answers to try to figure out if there is any truth to it. It was about 50/50 in the beginning but the more I do it the more accurate I have become. However, I would not use this as a sole method of sexing. Right now, I am about 85-90% on vent and feather sexing(the main forms I count) and about 75% on egg.