Running incubator higher temp to get pullets?

My Father said he has heard that you will get more girls if you run the incubator on the higher temp rather than lower..like a degree or so. Has anyone heard of this or is it a wives tale. I am afraid if I turn it up an extra degree I will just kill the hatch. Any one have any input on this. I am using a Brinsea Octogon so its always dead on the temp. So far I have only had 1/2 of all my eggs I have hatched come out so only 50 percent rate which my eggs are purchased local so they are not even shipped. I have been hatching out Marans so not sure if that is why or not. Somone said they can be stinkers to hatch. Both times I have gotten half cockerells and the other half pullets

I'll give the same answer I always give to these questions. If there were a way for hatcheries to force more pullets and less males, they would not be hatching all those unwanted males, especially if it were this simple.

I say "busted"!

They're not reptiles... so no, it doesn't work. If it did work hatcheries would not have so many extra roos - would they?

That works for some reptiles, but not birds. The only thing you'll probably get by doing that is chicks that hatch out a couple of days too early which can have it's whole own set of issues. If that were true the commercial hatcheries would be doing it to up their pullet numbers.

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Ok...you typed faster than me!!

No, it will not affect the gender outcome in your hatch. The higher temps will likely bring on a early hatch but may lead to a decreased hatch rate.

My brother the herpetology freak says this is a general rule of thumb with reptiles but does not hold true for mammals.

Best of luck with your hatch



(ya'll have wayyyy speedier fingers than me )

The gender of the baby is decided inside the mom and can´t be changed after that.

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Ok...you typed faster than me!!

And THAT'S rare

Okay, guys, I am just a rookie at this, so I don't knowit all. However, I do wonder if there is something more to this and can be completely dismissed out of hand like it seems is being done here.

First of all, to the person that said that many reptiles can be influenced, but mammals cannot, I reply, You are right about the reptiles. Many snakes, alligators, and red slider turtles are known for this. However, birds are not mammals...

I just hatched out 30 Plymouth Barred Rock chicks just yesterday. If wing feather sexing is reliable at all on one day old chicks, then I have 30 pullets out of 30 chicks hatched yesterday. Can anyone tell me what the odds of that happening are unless there was a determining factor for sex that could be contributed after the egg was laid and fertilized?

Now, just as reptiles, birds such as chickens are AMNIOTES. And, according to some scientific research that I was reading shortly before coming to this forum, amniotes can have external factors influence sex after fertilization and egg laying.

So, since I am a relative newbie, I will ask if anyone can determine if or how I could have messed up sexing my chicks. I tried to sex three different ways. Two ways were by "Old Wive's Tale" methods, by hanging and by size, shape, and distinction of the white spot on the head of the BR chicks, and then also by wing feather sexing.

I found that both the hanging method and the spot were somewhat accurate to the feather sexing, but were much more indeterminate compared to the wing feather sexing. While most looked or would act like a pullet, some were harder to figure. For instance, the white spots on the head proved to be like trying to hit a moving target. That method showed most to be pullets, but many to most were very hard to impossible to tell by the coloration.

With the hanging sexing, most would quickly relax and let the legs hang down, but some would hold their legs up and slowly release them or hold one leg up and one leg down. Again, very indeterminate of a method.

However, when it came to wing sexing, I found very determinate factors when researching it on the internet. Wing sexing was only good for when the chicks were 1 to 3 days old. Well, mine are all about one day old now. That being said, while two or three of the smallest chicks had smaller wing feathers altogether, ALL 30 of the chicks had primary feathers that were clearly and distincly much longer than the covert feathers between each of the primary wing feathers. Accordin to the websites that I read, that should be the determining factor for pullets, with cockerels having the gene that inhibits the early primary wing feather growth, thereby making the primary feathers the same length as the covert feathers on days one to three.

Nonetheless, 30 out of 30 of the hatchlings had the feathering distinctive of pullets on day one with no other external differences other than automated turning and temperature and humidity.

Any thoughts?

My 1588 temp runs high.

My first incubation attempt. 41 eggs. 12 hatched. 4 roos 8 pullets
Second attempt 42 eggs. 12 hatched. 4 roos 8 pullets

ah, my reptile like birds.