Nutrition and gender, and inducing broodiness

[lazy gardener]

I've started this thread to document my experiment with this year's hatching.

Gender: There's an "old wive's tale" regarding egg shape related to chick gender: Does egg shape give an indication regarding the gender of chick that will hatch from it? I read a study that stated there MAY be a correlation, with smaller and more rounded, less pointy eggs being more likely to bear a female chick, while pointed and larger eggs are more likely to bear a male chick. The study results were a bit vague. So, since I have way too much time to think, and an abundance of eggs, I decided to do my own test. I'll gather a week's worth of eggs, and sort them according to shape and size. I'll document the 2 groups with photos. The smaller, rounder eggs will go in the incubator, the larger and pointy eggs will go in the skillet. My past hatches have yielded > 60% roos.

Nutrition: Today, I started "conditioning" the flock to possibly improve the nutrition in the hatching eggs. My flock has been on FF layer with some added spent grains. I've recently switched to multi-flock which is 22% protein. They also get sprouted wheat, barley, and BOSS, and free choice oyster shell. The ground is still covered with 3' of snow, so no foraging opportunities, though there are some patches of mud showing up in the snow blowed paths. So, starting today, I'm giving them just a bit of crushed multi-vitamin mixed into their FF. I do realize that multi-vitamins are formulated for human consumption, but chose this route, just because. There are plenty of formulations out there designed specifically for poultry, but I chose this route, because the average home is likely to have multi vitamins, and some flock owners may be on a tight budget.

Inducing broodiness: No signs of broodiness to date. So, I brought up my box of golf balls, and have bought some plastic Easter eggs. This week I'll put half a dozen golf balls in one nest box, and half a dozen weighted Easter eggs in an other.

Too many variables at once? You bet! So, in no way is this intended to be a scientific study. It's just my way of having fun, and tweaking things with the flock a bit, to see what will happen.

Flock members: 3rd season birds: 2 EE, 1 RIR (Alpha hen), and 1 home bred BSL. Coming into second season birds: Jack the EE roo, 3 home bred: green egg, pea combed BSLs, 3 Dominiques, 3 RCBL, 1 SLW, 1 Pioneer.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Why don't you tackle that one?

I have too many chickens, once I see the chicks they won't be leaving! But maybe I will...

 

[lazy gardener]

Interesting to note: While I was collecting eggs for hatching, I was giving the flock 1/2 of an adult multi-vitamin crushed up in their feed every day. (16 birds) My egg count went up to 10 - 11/15. After finishing collecting, I stopped the vitamins. Egg count dropped to 6 - 8/15. I'm gonna start giving them their vitamins tomorrow!

 

[lazy gardener]

The last 3 days of incubation, you stop turning the eggs, raise the humidity, and basically... take your hands off the incubator. This gives the chicks time to position themselves for the hatch. Just for grins and giggles, go to the learning center and read "hatching 101". Even if you don't intend to hatch eggs, there's a wealth of information in there that will give you an incredible appreciation for the Master design behind the whole process. The entire physiology of the process will blow your socks off.

 

[lazy gardener]

Day 20. At least one internal pip. Obviously, I'm excited to see how the hatch progresses. Just boosted humidity up to 65% with a wet washcloth laid across the wire grid that separates the electronics from the hatching compartment. That's definitely not the best way to go about it, but... desperate times call for desperate measures. Tore the incubator apart last night to install a raised floor so I could install a water and sponge reservoir. Have plans for an upgrade to this box as soon as this hatch is completed, then will start a hatch of eggs straight from the nest to do a control group on gender selection.

 

[lazy gardener]

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.

ETA correction on Dom male numbers, and addition of stats.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hi Miranda. Yes, at least temp will affect outcome. I'm not sure exactly which way it goes, but one gender is favored by a bit of a difference in temp. The gender of the egg is actually determined by the hen, which as you know is different with mammals, being determined by the male. That's what makes this study even more interesting. B/C the gender is set so to speak before the egg even gets fertilized. There may be so many things that affect gender in poultry that we are yet not aware of, for example: nutrition, temperature trends, frequency of breeding, even flock dynamics. If the gender chromosome also dictates egg shape, one is led to wonder, WHY? Often, the larger chicks end up being male. Again, Why? And can we use any of this info to tweak our pullet percentages? Given the temp affecting mortality of male chicks, we are left with the discussion of how to rationalize the fact that a near perfect hatch, with eggs chosen by shape is still heavily weighted towards pullets. If the increase of pullets was only because of male mortality based on temp, there would be more eggs culled. I wonder if they would likely all die around the same time in the event of a temp spike.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Not for us. We'll be leaving before that proposed 7 yrs of supposed peace...any time.

And I thank the good Lord for it!

That is true, rapture happens before the 7 years of peace. Blew my theory out of the water.

 

[lazy gardener]

Sounds sensible to me. If they pip early, but still have yolk and vascular issues, they gotta chill out until those resolve, or they ain't gonna make it anyways. But the ones who get the sequence right, take care of those things and THEN pip, they're good to go. Wouldn't it also stand to reason, that if there's still blood in the membrane, and yolk to be absorbed, the chick's b/p may be down compared to the chick who's drawn all of that into his body?

 

[lazy gardener]

That would provide instant stats on your male/female ratio. If you could mark the eggs according to suspected gender, and put a divider in the bator, you'd have your stats immediately at hatch. If you set more than one batch of RhodeBars, you could do one batch straight run, just as they come in out of the nest. Sort according to shape, and put in a divided bator. Then, the second batch, you could just set the round eggs. This would also cut the variable I have in my mixed flock, b/c all of your eggs would be from one breed of hen.