All Cockerels (almost)

[Bornacentury2L8]

In the spring I incubated and hatched a few dozen eggs and they have almost all turned out to be male. Does temp determine the sex? I guess I should know this. I have 1 pullet and 6 cockerels after die-off and giving some away. Oh... anyone need some cockerels.....

 

[Mrs MIA]

Nope... if temperature, or shape of the egg, etc, had anything to do with it, the hatcheries would be doing it already.

Just the luck of the draw.

 

[Bornacentury2L8]

good. I was afraid I did something wrong... Thank you.

HEY! This gives me an excuse to crank up the bator again!!!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Like we need an excuse...

You're welcome.

 

[wombat]

It's a chromosome thing, fairly similar to the XX vs XY in mammals. In birds, males are homogametic (ZZ) and females are heterogametic (ZW). You'll usually get about a 50/50 split, though there are some studies that show that outside factors such as the age of males or availability of resources may provoke a slight skew. No, there's nothing you've done wrong.