Are ALL Dyed Easter Chicks Male?

[Titania]

good thoughts, Erica. And, ddawn, I was wondering the same thing, that excess male chicks would be dyed to sell them. But, clearly not true of dyed-in-egg chicks.

To go along with some other comments, on a slight tangent, I had heard that eggs stored at lower temperatures have a higher female to male ratio, as in, the cooler temperatures somehow effect the genetic material in the male chromosome and they die in egg. I don't know if it's true, just something I'd read. And I can say that my eggs that shipped during the winter had a very high female to male ratio. So, maybe this relates to warm dye vs. cool dye and the sex of chicks that hatch from the dyed eggs?

 

[ChicknLittleLexi]

Don't know the answer, and don't know about the moral responsibilities behind dyeing chicks, yada yada, but I LOVE THE COLORED CHICKIES! They're just sooo cuuuuuuuute

 

[Titania]

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I know!!! So true!

 

[N&MSchroeder]

How long does the dye last?

 

[teach1rusl]

I would think until they lost their baby feathers...

 

[Sphinx]

It depends on technique, I think. If the chick is dyed in the shell, the dye lasts as long as the fuzz.

My in-the-shell dyed chicks were completely white by the time they were two months old.

 

[5chicks4us]

I do not see the draw to this. It's so unnatural.

 

[petunias212]

neither do i but obviously people are buying them. very sad.

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[schellie69]

I don't think that dying the chick in the egg would cause more males then females. It could just be hatch ratio look at eggs that have not been hatched ask all the people who have hatched eggs and see what the male to female ratio is. Then look at people who have dyed chicks in the eggs and see what their ratio is. To do a test you would need a control group which means no dye, a group using warm dye and one that uses cold dye then see what the ratio is in all three groups you would have to make sure that conditions in each group where exactly the same. Just my thoughts I know in our city code it states that no one can sell dyed or colored (artificially) chicks.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

good point, make sure if you plan to do this experiment that if you want to sell chicks - that it is legal to sell dyed chicks. If it is illegal to sell them but not practice it, you will be looking at having to keep them atleast till they feather out.