6th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2015 Hatch-A-Long

[Cynthia12]

Questions often come up about the likelihood of pullets vis a vis cockerels in a hatch so I thought I'd share something.
Yesterday,my son was riding with me after he dropped his car off for repairs.
We were talking about selling some chickens. He asked if chickens are hatched with a 50/50 chance of being pullets and cockerels. I said yes. He did a little math in his head and told me there's a 1 in 5,000 chance that a dozen incubated eggs will either be all pullets or all cockerels.
He's in college for actuarial science. The exact number was closer to 4,990 something but he rounded up.

This is so cool, I have a lot of respect for those that can do..and enjoy math. Not one of those subjects that I could enjoy in school..history on the other hand. Loved it. Still do. It's a good thing..we need someone in every field. My DH likes math.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Doesn't the hen carry the gender.... The gene that decides the genders is carried by the hen so the hen that has pullets more often will usually have pullets more often?

Interesting anyway... Out of seven buff orps I got six pullets and one male. And only time will tell but I'm testing out feather sexing and it looks like my Bantam hen had three pullets... three for three.

From the brief amount of reading i have done on wing sexing, it doesnt work with bantams or silkies. There is also some info on the net that says they have to be set up geneticlly the right way to be feather sexed. Basically dad has to have 2 recessive fast feathering genes and he gives a recessive fast feather growing gene to all eggs....mom needs 1 dominant slow feather gene and she gives that 1 gene to eggs destined to be roos. So in roo chicks the dom slow feather gene over rides the reccessive fast feather gene producing slow even feather growth, aka same length shorter feathers. In hen chicks they only have the recessive fast feather gene so fast uneven feather growth, aka alternating length long feathers.

This thread has a bunch of info on color and feather sexing and what to cross to get feather sexable chicks and sex-linked chicks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

EDIT: Yes the hen does carry gender btw. Technically you could try to breed for a higher ratio of pullet eggs by monitoring what each of your hens produces and cull down the lines until you get a hen that lays mostly female eggs. Disadvantage would be you would need to keep normal lines seperate so you would not cross out males all together or stop short of more then 75% pullet eggs. If that makes sense.

 

[Cynthia12]

From the brief amount of reading i have done on wing sexing, it doesnt work with bantams or silkies. There is also some info on the net that says they have to be set up geneticlly the right way to be feather sexed. Basically dad has to have 2 recessive fast feathering genes and he gives a recessive fast feather growing gene to all eggs....mom needs 1 dominant slow feather gene and she gives that 1 gene to eggs destined to be roos. So in roo chicks the dom slow feather gene over rides the reccessive fast feather gene producing slow even feather growth, aka same length shorter feathers. In hen chicks they only have the recessive fast feather gene so fast uneven feather growth, aka alternating length long feathers.

This thread has a bunch of info on color and feather sexing and what to cross to get feather sexable chicks and sex-linked chicks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

Great youtube site that shows how to vent sex..I think I have it down pretty good..all you need to do is find that first boy, then you have it down.

 

[hennible]

From the brief amount of reading i have done on wing sexing, it doesnt work with bantams or silkies. There is also some info on the net that says they have to be set up geneticlly the right way to be feather sexed. Basically dad has to have 2 recessive fast feathering genes and he gives a recessive fast feather growing gene to all eggs....mom needs 1 dominant slow feather gene and she gives that 1 gene to eggs destined to be roos. So in roo chicks the dom slow feather gene over rides the reccessive fast feather gene producing slow even feather growth, aka same length shorter feathers. In hen chicks they only have the recessive fast feather gene so fast uneven feather growth, aka alternating length long feathers.

This thread has a bunch of info on color and feather sexing and what to cross to get feather sexable chicks and sex-linked chicks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

EDIT: Yes the hen does carry gender btw. Technically you could try to breed for a higher ratio of pullet eggs by monitoring what each of your hens produces and cull down the lines until you get a hen that lays mostly female eggs. Disadvantage would be you would need to keep normal lines seperate so you would not cross out males all together or stop short of more then 75% pullet eggs. If that makes sense.

Thank you for the information. Bummer on my bantams

Great youtube site that shows how to vent sex..I think I have it down pretty good..all you need to do is find that first boy, then you have it down.  

Where is this YouTube site? You have a link?

 

[shlac]

Yes, that's the one with its left leg stuck straight back.

Is this the one that had the splayed leg?   lol..I remember I've had a couple out in the yard that I called ~ Mouth.  

Cute!   Looks like a barred rock up front.   Hey, you have some babies, 8 is a lot to me. 

 

[FuzzyHens]

Lol! First time my baby duck did the #2 it propelled her 2 inches forward and she fell over. Laughed so hard I cried.

I feel like I've really missed out...my chick had his first poop while I was outside. Now I am going to watch more closely after the next watch.

 

[Canadianislupus]

Here are the few pics from the other day that actually turned out

 

[FuzzyHens]

Here are the few pics from the other day that actually turned out

Absolutely adorable photos!!!

 

[ronott1]

Here are the few pics from the other day that actually turned out

Those are very nice photos!

 

[Cynthia12]

Thank you for the information. Bummer on my bantams

Where is this YouTube site? You have a link?

Link for how to vent sex..