Can eggs layed just after fertilization produce female chicks?

[GreggsEggs]

Can eggs layed just after the hen is fertilized be more likely to produce female chicks? I have read here that chickens stay fertile for 2,3-4 weeks after mating with a Roo. Is breeding chickens at all like breeding dogs? Like with breeding dogs, female pups are often produced during the first stick.
So my question again is......Will the eggs layed just after fertilization be more likely to produce females over male than eggs layed toward the end of the 2,3-4 weeks?

I hope I made some sense?

 

[mdbucks]

you have a 50/50 chance that beginning lay eggs will produce pullets. then again you have a 50% chance of beginning eggs producing Roos

 

[tiffanyh]

I think you are refering to the whole Y chromosome quickness/speed versus X chromosome staying power. (If your not, pretend I never said anything).

I am not sure if that applies to chickens. It wouls be intersting to find out though. But logically and procedural I wouldnt think so.

 

[GreggsEggs]

yeah, I was talking about the X and Y chromosomes. Does any one if it applies to chicken?

 

[Davaroo]

Alright, Im no geneticist, but I'll stick my neck out on this one: NO

My limited experience and all I've ever researched says there is little you can do to influence the sex ratio. And no, dangling a needle over an egg will not tell you the chicks sex before hatching, either.

I did find one little tidbit some time ago, from a man who made the claim that sorghum seed, when fed to birds, PROMISED to increase the ratio of females to males. He had been testing this on finches, and noted a shift in sex ratio, but had never fully tested the theory. Here's what he said:

MORE FEMALES PER HATCH
Dr. N.W. Walker (D. Sc., Ph.D.)
From TMEN, 1979

Some years ago, while doing research on the properties of sorghum seed, I discovered that a genetic female hormone was quite prevalent in these small, glossy kernels.

I had a feeling that this sorghum hormone could, perhaps, influence the percentage of female birds hatched, and-to check this "hunch"—I set up an experiment using zebra finches ... which (because they regularly hatch up to four eggs a month) seemed the best choice available to me.

Before I began the research, these birds had hatched out a predictable half-and-half mixture of male and female finches. I decided to keep a full dish of sorghum seeds in the aviary at all times and watch for developments.

At first the birds didn't show much interest in the new food, but-in the course of three or four weeks-they began to feed on the sorghum before moving on to their regular feeders ... and they followed this pattern both morning and evening.

Then, after two or three months, I began to notice an increase In the number of female birds hatched. In fact, by the end of the first year of sorghum-supplemented feeding, my finches produced close to four female birds for every male hatched!

Unfortunately, other (and, at the moment, more important) matters interrupted my experiments before I could take the time to See if my "discovery" held true for larger birds, too.

I do hope to continue this research—as soon as time allows—with Marsh's Pharaoh Coturnix Quail, because these birds are about the most prolific larger fowl that I've come across. Quail eggs hatch within 16 days, and the chicks actually begin laying eggs themselves by five or six weeks after hatching. Obviously, these qualities would help the experiments proceed quickly.

In the meantime, however, I'm glad to pass this little bit of information along to anyone who has a few chickens, geese, etc. and who would be interested in seeing if sorghum seed will increase the percentage of female chicks produced by these more practical barnyard fowls. I can assure you that I've found nothing in sorghum that was not definitely beneficial to the health of any birds fed on this seed."

Is this the same Dr. Walker that invented carrot juice?

 

[peeps7]

A man told me that if the egg is pointed at the top then it's a rooster and if it's more rounded then it's a hen. I don't know if that's true but that is just what he said.

 

[Cara]

If that's the case one of my Ameraucanas always lays roosters and the other always lays pullets.

As for dogs, as far as I know it makes no difference with them when they are bred.

 

[Davaroo]

A man told me that if the egg is pointed at the top then it's a rooster and if it's more rounded then it's a hen. I don't know if that's true but that is just what he said.

Start a thread on the many ways to tell if its male or female. Youll get a lot of lulu's. The pointed vs rounded egg thing is just one of them.
The one I like is when you toss an old hat or something like that over a bunch of chicks. Supposedly the males will stand up tall, protecting the others, while the females dodge for cover.
I heard it's bogus, like all such things. I tried it - I coudn't tell nuttin.

There is one sure way to know male from female. Wait.​

 

[Chellester]

I wonder if some roosters throw more hens than others (assuming that roosters are responsible for the sex of its offspring like males of other species)? If so, if you could figure out which roosters throw more hens, and only use those roosters for breeding. It would take some time (and a LOT of breeding pens), but the results would be worth it, IMHO. This would be a great trait to breed for(assuming that's a trait that can be passed down), especially for laying breeds where you don't want a lot of roosters anyway.

I've always wondered why, since chickens are harem-like breeders, why the sex ratio is 50/50? It would seem that it would be better if it was more like 80/20 in favor of hens or something like that.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Actually, I think it's the opposite in chickens, the female determines the sex.

http://home.earthlink.net/~100chickens/id5.html