100% Male Hatches?

[gamebirdsonly]

I have had similar results for last couple of years most all my hatches have been 9 out ever 10 hatched have been roos. It sucks when I'm trying to replenish my flock.

 

[ClareScifi]

And you, like me, are in Utah. It is hard for me not to get attached to my chicks, so it is so sad when they are male and I have to re-home them. What do you do with your males? Eat them or give them away?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Try hatching many more eggs at one time. By my count you've only hatched 5 chicks in four different attempts. That's not enough of a sample to be worried that they are all males, the next 5 could be all females. 5 males in one hatch of 5 would be somewhat significant but to have three hatches resulting in 1 chick it's a 50/50 flip of the coin for each hatch determining sex.

The hatch rates are poor, try storing the eggs fat end up in a egg carton and tilt "turn" the eggs at least once a day. I store mine on the kitchen counter for two weeks to obtain enough for an incubation from the select breeders.

 

[AmericanMom]

Last year I wanted to get some pullets from my EE hens that were covered by my Blue orpington Rooster... I hatched and hatched with just a few pullets as the results, none had the coloring or standard I was seeking, so I kept hatching. I hatched 23 for a lady (of course strait run) Found out a few months ago out of 23 she got only 6 pullets. This was a constant problem with these two hens last year.. This year has already been different. Not only have they thrown several pullets but they are what I was trying to achieve last year..




I just chalked it up to being the year of the rooster

 

[ClareScifi]

I don't have an incubator, so I can't hatch more eggs at one time, and my hen I'm trying to propagate is 5 and doesn't lay every day. By the time I'd have a lot more eggs, they would no longer be viable. I do store her eggs fat end up, and I do turn them every day, moving the freshest one into the #1 spot in the egg carton. And there were dead chicks, nearly fully formed in the eggs that didn't hatch-- only roosters made it out. I can't afford $25.00 an egg to determine the gender of the unhatched chicks. I wonder whether a university would be interested in the unhatched chick gender project? My broody hen is a Bantam, and she can only accommodate 4 eggs under her breast.

 

[ClareScifi]

I like your "Year of the Rooster" joke, American Mom. I think my rooster has Orpington in him. What do you think? Check out his comb:

 

[ClareScifi]

I'm seeking female offspring from only the one hen. I have only one rooster and 5 hens whose eggs are fertilized, and a little Broody Bantam whose eggs are unfertilized. And now I have one new little cockerel. The fellow who hatched the other cockerel in his incubator is going to keep him. Another friend does have a dozen of my hens' eggs under her right now, due to hatch on June 27, as she is hoping to expand her flock. If a pullet hatches from the eggs of the hen I'm trying to incubate, she says I can have it. There are 8 of that hens' eggs under her broody girl. So time will tell.

 

[ClareScifi]

I LOVE the color or your EE/Orpington pullet, American Mom. I'm trying for something similar. This is the cockerel my friend hatched out under her broody girl for me last fall. The mother was Barred Rock and the father the rooster whose picture I posted above. I just loved the blue and white barring, but unfortunately the chick died at just 8 weeks old. We think my friend's Jersey Giant jumped on top of him in the nesting box and crushed him during the night. He was sooo pretty. I adore the blue and white combo. I realize a hen from such a coupling won't have this coloring, due to the genetics of only males inheriting the barring from a Barred Rock, when the rooster is a solid colored male, but at least I got to enjoy the cockerel's looks for 8 weeks.

 

[AmericanMom]

I like your "Year of the Rooster" joke, American Mom. I think my rooster has Orpington in him. What do you think? Check out his comb:

Looks like he could be ...

Here is my blue..



I am not even kidding about the rooster explosion last year, I ended up in Sept buying pullets from the feed store because my grand idea of hatching my own flock was an epic failure... My fault too for spending so much time and energy on those two hens and trying to get pullets from them.

 

[ClareScifi]

American Mom, do you think my rooster could have EE in him? Some say so. This is a picture of him as a teen: