Nutrition and gender, and inducing broodiness

[rainbowrooster]

I think if there was a way to sex chicks by the shape/size of the eggs the hatcheries that supply the commercial laying farms would have figured it out several decades ago. At this point they must cull 50% of their hatch since there is no viable market for these type of male chickens. If possible, they could then cut their hatchery cost in half and sell the males eggs. That would be many millions of dollars in their pocket but as of yet they still haven't got the answer.

The extra and unnecessary protein will just come out the back side of the birds. Its your money to spend but you would be better off with a breeding feed formulated for chickens. There is a lot more to poultry feed than the protein content and more protein does make it a better feed for all purposes.

 

[RachelLeigh]

Hi. My varying two cents... I saw that aricle. If it were true, the poultry farmers would be in hen haven. All of us would, we all get too many roosters lol. I have silkies so I can only speak of my silkie experience. I only have 8 hens so I have observed closely. One by one they layed their first eggs. I got to know exactly which hen was laying what egg because each egg shape was specific to that hen in some way or another. If I had gone with the idea of rounded versus pointy, and culled the pointy, that would have been the eggs from one particular hen. Their egg shape and make up is almost like a fingerprint. One hen always has little spots of calcium over the whole shell. They are subtle but there every time. My smallest buff hen has the biggest egg. My black hen's egg is always pointy, and blue hen is very round.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yes, what you say is true, hens DO have distinctive egg shapes. But, I can look at the eggs from some of my hens, and some days they'll be more pointed, other days, have a bit more round ness to them. I'm just playing with this for fun. So while I'm sure 90% of the readers agree that shape does not indicate gender, feel free to read along. You all don't have to tell me that shape is irrelevant, because, I'll honestly be surprised if this hatch does lean towards a higher percentage of females. If nothing else, this little un-scientific experiment will lay the theory to rest.

 

[RachelLeigh]

I didn't mean to sound like a know it all nay sayer. Sorry for the way it seemed. When I read that article, I looked very closely at my own eggs. I was wondering if it WOULD be true for breeds like what is grown on farms when its mass production scale and every bird is identical in most ways. I like experiments of all kinds. I love scientific findings and there aren't near enough articles of "chicken science" My next experiment is going to be hatching with out turning rates

 

[lazy gardener]

Rachel, no offense taken. I'm just doing an informal little experiment here, and will post my results. The one thing I don't want this thread to do is turn into a debate. Happy to have you following along, if you want to!

 

[Peep-Chicken]

I was thinking of doing something like this.

Can't wait to see results from yours! Even though it's proably false, it's still interesting .

I think you should refrigerate eggs and then test those hatch rates.

 

[lazy gardener]

Why don't you tackle that one?

 

[RachelLeigh]

Thanks.! I AM actually testing the fridge first no turn hatch rate. It just got brought up in another thread too. Doesn't make sense to me why NOT put in fridge if you want them to last longer. The air cell stays small in fridge versus out on the counter where moisture is lost. I've always put in fridge if I'm collecting eggs longer between sets with great hatch rates but never kept it up long enough to record lots of info.

 

[RachelLeigh]

Lol. Oh that was you, who posted the "best not to fridge first" in the other thread. As soon as I get my new incubator and note almost perfect hatch rates from counter to incubator, I'll start with the fridge first rate stay tuned lol

 

[lazy gardener]

If it works for you, that's great. I'm merely passing along the info I've gleaned from all of my reading. So, yet an other reader who kicks the goads! Continue to do what makes sense to you instead of doing the status quo because someone once said that's the way it should be done. IMO, that's what makes any hobby so much fun. You get to learn a lot, but in the end, it boils down to doing what makes the most sense to you. You own the entire project! I read an other study that might interest you: This study involved collecting eggs for hatch, and storing them upside down. (Pointy end up) The eggs were not turned at all during pre-incubation storage. Hatch rate was comparable to that of eggs that were treated in the normal rate. (stored at ideal temp, and turned 3x/d) The theory was that in the upside down position, the chalazae stabilized the yolk in the middle to keep it from drifting towards the shell.