Australorps breed Thread

[appps]

@ orumpoultry I read somewhere here that tails can sometimes also be used to sex australorps early. But the girls will have more advanced than the boys at this age. Do the ones with the biggest combs also have the shortest tails?

If they are all roosters think I'd be roasting the hen laid those eggs lol

 

[orumpoultry]

Yup. In my experience the roosters have shorter tails at this age. Only two of the nine have longer tails, and are pretty fairly feathered. On the plus side I no longer have my rooster so I will have plenty to chose from. On the downside I do believe I'm going to have to get some fresh hens. I'll probably find some from someone close to me who has decent hens.

ETA wish I could blame it on incubation, but I also have a batch of barred rocks from around this time that are majority pullets, with only one rooster ( based on premature feather coloring ) so that's not it. LOL

 

[Lobzi]

orumpoultry I read somewhere here that tails can sometimes also be used to sex australorps early. But the girls will have more advanced than the boys at this age. Do the ones with the biggest combs also have the shortest tails?

If they are all roosters think I'd be roasting the hen laid those eggs lol

Not the hen's fault it is the environment she is in. Add in a few more roosters to up the stress from mating and she will more likely produce more female offspring. That is my theory anyway and it seems to play out in my yard.

More roosters=more stress for the hens as they run from the constant attacs on them for mating=more female offspring. Must be a hormone shift brought on by the stress that causes the hen to favor female offspring.

 

[ronott1]

Not the hen's fault it is the environment she is in. Add in a few more roosters to up the stress from mating and she will more likely produce more female offspring. That is my theory anyway and it seems to play out in my yard.

More roosters=more stress for the hens as they run from the constant attacs on them for mating=more female offspring. Must be a hormone shift brought on by the stress that causes the hen to favor female offspring.

The ovum of the hen is set at her birth(the 3000 ovum she has when she hatches). There would have to be a way to make her only lay eggs of one gender. Hormones do not change the genetics of the ovum. There are hormones that make an egg develop from the ovum.

Gender is a chance thing. It will over a large number of eggs hatched average out to 50%.

 

[MrsBrooke]

The ovum of the hen is set at her birth(the 3000 ovum she has when she hatches). There would have to be a way to make her only lay eggs of one gender. Hormones do not change the genetics of the ovum. There are hormones that make an egg develop from the ovum.

Gender is a chance thing. It will over a large number of eggs hatched average out to 50%.

[ATTACHMENT=804]Genderdeterminationinchickens.docx (13k. docx file)[/ATTACHMENT]

I remember in the HAL thread we determined that it is *possible* to breed for gender-throwing, as the hens are responsible for gender.

With a LOT of vicious culling, a LOT of record keeping, and a LOT of chicks hatched, one *could* theoretically breed a hen that lays primarily females.

Interesting stuff!

MrsB

 

[orumpoultry]

I've read a LOT about hens being responsible for sex. Roosters primary job is to fertilize, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[ronott1]

I remember in the HAL thread we determined that it is *possible* to breed for gender-throwing, as the hens are responsible for gender.

With a LOT of vicious culling, a LOT of record keeping, and a LOT of chicks hatched, one *could* theoretically breed a hen that lays primarily females.

Interesting stuff!

MrsB

It is possible for a hen to have more male eggs or female eggs. She will always lay more of one or the other and if so you may be able to breed for that characteristic in the flock. Trap nesting will help figure out what each hen is laying. It is a lot of work to trap nest though. I would have to be home all day in the summer to do that here--nest boxes can get very hot when it is 110 outside. I would need to let each hen out ASAP.

With meat breeds, you may want more males.

 

[MrsBrooke]

It is possible for a hen to have more male eggs or female eggs. She will always lay more of one or the other and if so you may be able to breed for that characteristic in the flock. Trap nesting will help figure out what each hen is laying. It is a lot of work to trap nest though. I would have to be home all day in the summer to do that here--nest boxes can get very hot when it is 110 outside. I would need to let each hen out ASAP.

With meat breeds, you may want more males.

Sounds like quite a bit of work. Since we're doing Aussies for both meat and eggs, I'm content with or 50/50 odds.

On an unrelated side note, MrB and I built a larger brooder in the garage and moved our rapidly-growing babies out of the house... I put an inverted cardboard box in their giant new brooder in case they felt too exposed in their new home, and they are all huddled under it. Every time I go into the garage, they start screaming and trying to climb over each other to get farther back in the box, otherwise they are quiet,

The ambient garage temp hovers just under 70 degrees, and they, of course, have a brooder light within easy access. I doubt they are too cold. The garage temps they are experiencing are the same temps they experienced inside when the AC comes on at night.

Has the change in environment totally thrown them off? Should I remove the box to acclimate them more quickly? Or will that cause more stress? Granted, this is only Day 1 being the new brooder (we put them in last night), and I'm sure they will emerge eventually.... But the impatience..... THE IMPATIENCE!!!!!

MrsB

 

[appps]

Not the hen's fault it is the environment she is in.  Add in a few more roosters to up the stress from mating and she will more likely produce more female offspring.  That is my theory anyway and it seems to play out in my yard.

More roosters=more stress for the hens as they run from the constant attacs on them for mating=more female offspring.  Must be a hormone shift brought on by the stress that causes the hen to favor female offspring.

I read the female determines the sex of the offspring just like males in mammals. Why can't you just have a female more prone to males just like king George was prone to daughters?

Perhaps your added stress puts one of your particular more male producing hens off laying eggs as often giving you different results than if everyone was unstressed. . Would be interesting to monitor who lays what both stressed and unstressed.

 

[ronott1]

Sounds like quite a bit of work. Since we're doing Aussies for both meat and eggs, I'm content with or 50/50 odds.

On an unrelated side note, MrB and I built a larger brooder in the garage and moved our rapidly-growing babies out of the house... I put an inverted cardboard box in their giant new brooder in case they felt too exposed in their new home, and they are all huddled under it. Every time I go into the garage, they start screaming and trying to climb over each other to get farther back in the box, otherwise they are quiet,

The ambient garage temp hovers just under 70 degrees, and they, of course, have a brooder light within easy access. I doubt they are too cold. The garage temps they are experiencing are the same temps they experienced inside when the AC comes on at night.

Has the change in environment totally thrown them off? Should I remove the box to acclimate them more quickly? Or will that cause more stress? Granted, this is only Day 1 being the new brooder (we put them in last night), and I'm sure they will emerge eventually.... But the impatience..... THE IMPATIENCE!!!!!

MrsB

I have seen this happen when a light is used to brood them. I would take off the cardboard. They need light to develop correctly. Without enough light, the roosters combs will be messed up.

The chicks I raise under a heat plate are used to day and night so they do much better.