Can eggs layed just after fertilization produce female chicks?

[Davaroo]

As far as I understand, the hen is responsible for the sex of the chick, not the male. So that line of thinking has to be tossed out, darn it!

Someone usually comes out now and says that their breeders produce more females, and I sure wish they could reduce that to a repeatable formula. But, as far as I have observed to date, it never gets that far.

I suppose this will be tossing a "wet blanket" on this whole thread, but ever since genetics has been understood, someone, somewhere, has been trying to increase the ratio of hens - to no avail. Often enough, these are people who know far more than most of us.

I eagerly await the day that someone does it.

 

[Chellester]

Quote:
I had a feeling that was the case; that's why I put my little disclaimer on my last post so I wouldn't look like a total idiot.

Knowing this, I guess one could reverse the thinking and breed hens that threw more hens to roosters, but again, it would be a LOT of work, even more so than if it was the roosters that determined the sex. If it were the roosters, you could put a rooster with a dozen hens in a breeding pen, and if that breeding pen threw more hens to roosters, you would know you had a "good" rooster. But since it's the hens, you would have to seperate each hen in order to tell who was throwing what. That would be enough to drive ya nuts!

 

[Davaroo]

I had a feeling that was the case; that's why I put my little disclaimer on my last post so I wouldn't look like a total idiot.

Man, I need one of those!!​

 

[Chellester]

Quote:
Man, I need one of those!!

You've already got it. It's the word "assuming." Use it after the potentially idiotic comment.

For example: "assuming that's correct" or "assuming [insert explanation of idiotic comment] is true".

Then insert a smiley so people who know better will wonder if you're just kidding.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

If you use trap nests, then you know which hen laid each egg. Too much work for me!!!

 

[Chellester]

Ah, yes; I forgot about the trap nests. But like you said- still a lot of work!

 

[silkiechicken]

If my latest batch of silkies are all roos... and if I find out alex's chicks all ended up rooos... my silkie girls is going to the soup pot!!!! I have yet to get a single girl from her!!!


Edit: As for researches and chickens... there have been studies done that show that you can selectively breed hens so that all chicks reliably hatch out on day 19 rather than 21! But doing that is much easier than trying to breed hens that produce more pullets.