Bresse Chickens

[LindaB220]

@Chiquita

Have you noticed a disproportionately larger number of pullets in your Bresse hatches? I did a head count of my 16 chicks that have hatched so far and only 3 of them are cockerels! I thought the number of cockerels was a little higher initilly, but it isn't. I am going to be interested to see the numbers of the rest of my hatches. I have 40 eggs under 4 broodies right now.

Don't you ferment your feed?

 

[ronott1]

Don't you ferment your feed?

All of the eggs that a hen will lay are already either a pullet or a cockerel. There is no way possible that fermented feed would change the gender of an egg. Has anyone explained a mechanism that would cause the hens body to some how figure out which egg is a boy or girl and only lay that egg?

Fermented feed is very good for their health and should help you reach a 100 percent hatch rate which will average out to 50% boys and 50% girls over time.

 

[BCMaraniac]

All of the eggs that a hen will lay are already either a pullet or a cockerel. There is no way possible that fermented feed would change the gender of an egg. Has anyone explained a mechanism that would cause the hens body to some how figure out which egg is a boy or girl and only lay that egg?

Fermented feed is very good for their health and should help you reach a 100 percent hatch rate which will average out to 50% boys and 50% girls over time.

Ron, in humans, the acidity/alkalinity of the vagina affect the propensity of the sex of offspring. Increased acidity is less hospitable for a Y chromosome, so I would assume that is what Linda is referring to.....that the acidity of the feed may translate to acidity in the reproductive tract and increase the likelihood of female offspring.

 

[ronott1]

Ron, in humans, the acidity/alkalinity of the vagina affect the propensity of the sex of offspring. Increased acidity is less hospitable for a Y chromosome, so I would assume that is what Linda is referring to.....that the acidity of the feed may translate to acidity in the reproductive tract and increase the likelihood of female offspring.

Chickens are backwards. The Male does not determine Gender. All the male sperm has to do is get to the egg. This is from My Pet Chicken and is simple but makes an understandable point:

Quote:

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A: If you want to know how to tell the difference between males and females in chickens, please see our related questions, below. This question addresses how sex is determined in chickens genetically.

In birds, the sex of the embryo is determined by the egg, not the sperm (as it is in humans). Avian sex differentiation is not determined by XY chromosomes like it is in humans and most mammals (or even the XO system used by some insects). In those systems the sex is determined by the sperm, by what the male contributes to the offspring. By contrast, birds have a ZW system of sex determination (shared with butterflies, moths, fish and reptiles). In that system, sex is determined by the female within her ova, and the sex of offspring is not affected at all by the sperm which the male contributes.​

So you see the acidity does not matter. A Hen will either lay a male of female egg. That was determined when the Pullet was an egg. Feed will have nothing to do with it.

 

[LindaB220]

Chickens are backwards. The Male does not determine Gender. All the male sperm has to do is get to the egg. This is from My Pet Chicken and is simple but makes an understandable point:

So you see the acidity does not matter. A Hen will either lay a male of female egg. That was determined when the Pullet was an egg. Feed will have nothing to do with it.

With 17,000 posts I'll sure take your word for it.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Chickens are backwards. The Male does not determine Gender. All the male sperm has to do is get to the egg. This is from My Pet Chicken and is simple but makes an understandable point:

So you see the acidity does not matter. A Hen will either lay a male of female egg. That was determined when the Pullet was an egg. Feed will have nothing to do with it.

Cool....good to know and very interesting. I will keep an eye on my numbers to see if they even out..

 

[ronott1]

With 17,000 posts I'll sure take your word for it.

Just imagine how many of them I have read too....Crazy....

I Have

Cool....good to know and very interesting. I will keep an eye on my numbers to see if they even out..

Yes! It may be possible to select hens that lay more of one Gender or the other.

With Bresse it really does not matter--Both are processed and eaten. Cockerels at 16 weeks and pullets at 20 weeks. Both are very tasty. My Year old hens have a lot of meat on them.

 

[juststruttin]

@Chiquita

Have you noticed a disproportionately larger number of pullets in your Bresse hatches? I did a head count of my 16 chicks that have hatched so far and only 3 of them are cockerels! I thought the number of cockerels was a little higher initilly, but it isn't. I am going to be interested to see the numbers of the rest of my hatches. I have 40 eggs under 4 broodies right now.

I hatched 9 chicks from Chiquita and 7 were pullets. Stats were so good, I went gambling. Not such a good idea.

 

[sonew123]

I hatched 9 chicks from Chiquita and 7 were pullets.  Stats were so good, I went gambling.  Not such a good idea.  

Haha I love her bresse eggs..I was praying for a roo to go with her 3 girls i hatched last year and i finally got a roo to hatch yesterday!!! Nothing else hatched;( but thats my pathetic bator thats spikes ..dang brinsea!!! Now to stalk for more of her eggs!!! Mauauauau new bator is on my counter!!

 

[juststruttin]

Haha I love her bresse eggs..I was praying for a roo to go with her 3 girls i hatched last year and i finally got a roo to hatch yesterday!!! Nothing else hatched;( but thats my pathetic bator thats spikes ..dang brinsea!!! Now to stalk for more of her eggs!!! Mauauauau new bator is on my counter!!

You're safe is the bator fits on the counter. It's the ones that stand up on the floor that get us is so much trouble. I recently re-homed my bator that held 288 eggs (to Chiquita .. actually) . That cabinet bator got me in all kinds of trouble. Its funny, when you put eggs in a bator chicks come out. Just like magic.