Consolidated Kansas

[mommahen10]

I'm sorry about your hen Sharol, that's so sad.

HEChicken, I thought that too about my rooster because I've been getting more girls than boys but then I read that it's the hen that determines the sex of the offspring, that they actually determine the chromosomes. That was just one article and I honestly have no clue.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, I thought that too about my rooster because I've been getting more girls than boys but then I read that it's the hen that determines the sex of the offspring, that they actually determine the chromosomes. That was just one article and I honestly have no clue.

That's what I had always heard too, but there was a discussion on here a few weeks ago, and Danz, who understands more about genetics than I do, suggested it isn't quite as simple as one or the other - there are more factors at play and no one really knows for sure yet how gender in birds is determined. That came up after she got rid of a rooster who was throwing mostly cockerels, and I found it very interesting. It was before I had hatched any of my own eggs but I remember thinking how awesome it would be to have a rooster who throws more girls than boys, never dreaming I might actually end up with one! (Of course my stats are still pretty low - 8/9 might just be lucky and next time it will go the other way, but for now I'm happy with the result and won't even need to hatch any more for awhile, since by Spring I will have more eggs than I know what to do with, as it is).

 

[mommahen10]

One of my hatches was 9 pullets and 1 cockeral, they're 4 months old now and I've sold most of them in the last couple of weeks. I have 1 pullet left from that group. The incubating conditions can influence how many of each type hatch by making conditions more favorable for one or the other but the actual gender of each egg is what the article that I read said was determined by the hen and even that is influenced by seasons and conditions. We need to find something solid on this, everything that I'm going by is really heresay and hasn't been backed up by anything solid. Now I'm curious but I need to get off my patootie and get busy, I want to have a lazy day looks like I've had a lazy morning.

 

[chicken danz]

Kansas Prairie, that could be me talking on the broodies.
I've always got broodies. Some only break from broodiness to molt. Go figure!


I hatched several batches of chicks this Fall with some trepidation because I've heard from Danz and also read elsewhere, that they tend to hatch more cockerels in the Fall. I really don't need more boys and wanted to hatch some girls to raise over the winter so by Spring they'd be ready to join the laying flock. My first hatch, 9 out of 10 eggs hatched, so I hoped that the 50/50 rule would give me 5 girls, 4 boys, but figured the opposite would be true. There were several who seemed to pink up early and I thought I had a bunch of little cockerels on my hands. But one by one, as they've grown bigger, the "boys" started looking more girly. They are now 10 weeks old and I can't hardly believe my luck. I have 1 cockerel and 8 pullets!!!
No actually it is summer when you hatch mostly cockerels. It's the heat that makes them produce more cockerels. If they were laid in extreme heat that might do it. I have a good ratio of 50/50 in the fall and spring.
My second hatch was 100% but after DH made a comment that I was going to run out of roost space once all the chicks were full-grown, I realized he was right and I was gathering quite the motley collection so I sold a few chicks straight run on Craiglist, from that second hatch, keeping back just two chicks. I wanted to keep one that should be an Olive Egger (because the only OE from the first hatch is the cockerel) and one that is out of a Speckled Sussex, just because she is so pretty. Now that they are getting older, it is clear the two I kept are both pullets too.
But it sounds like your chicks might have been conceived during hot weather so you must be doing something right.So....remember the discussion several weeks ago about whether it is the rooster or the hen that determines gender? If it is the rooster, I have another reason to want to keep Cyrus - he seems to throw a lot more girls than boys.

I'm sorry about your hen Sharol, that's so sad.

HEChicken, I thought that too about my rooster because I've been getting more girls than boys but then I read that it's the hen that determines the sex of the offspring, that they actually determine the chromosomes. That was just one article and I honestly have no clue.

I don't know who determines sex. I don't know if chickens have the equivalent of XY chromosomes or not.It does seem like the cockerels are the stronger of the two to hatch in adverse conditions though.
Yeah I did the cough cough thing on the eggs too, but that really isn't so far out of line for rare breed eggs. I've seen eggs go for up to $25 each. Not in my budget though. I only bought these eggs cause I was trying to help the breeder out cause she has been wonderful to deal with. I am coughing a lot harder with the lousy fertility though! I guess I'll wait and see if I get any viable chicks out of the others. I do have one pipped.
I've invested so much money this year in eggs and I hope it all pays off next year.
If it doesn't I will be one very sad and very broke chicken lady! I still have more eggs to hatch in the incubator from a couple other purchases. It's about time to quit though. I don't think my children would appreciate getting chickens for Christmas!!

 

[chicken danz]

That reminds me. Greenfire had a 8 week old pair of a breed of chick that was the first to be released in the U.S. a few weeks ago. That pair went for $1285.00 for two baby chicks. Now tell me that isn't extreme?? There was also $60 shipping on top of that! I love the rare breeds but I can guarantee there will be no birds that expensive on my farm.

 

[mommahen10]

My hatch that was 9 pullets and 1 cockeral was in the middle of summer too but I think it had more to do with which ones hatched because I don't have a good hatch rate. How can chicks cost sooooo much. How do we come up with our own rare breed?

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Do Turkeys eggs do better with a little higher temp in the incubator? I hatched 4 of the 6 turkey eggs and one was not fertile, I added 12 chicken eggs after the turkey eggs had been in for 7 days, only had two roos hatch and one was blind. Then I've tried to hatch two more batches and had about the same results, those that made it were roos, about 8 roos to 1 pullet. Do Roos tolerate higher incubator temps? My incubator came preset, but I'm wondering if it's to warm. It stays between 99.5 and 100.0, and my second thermometer agrees on the temp. I wonder if I should lower the heat, what's your opinion?

I read posts about people letting their eggs cool or settle before putting them in the incubator, is that helpful?

 

[chicken danz]

KarenS is doing that. She is breeding her Aloha chicks. Someday she will be a well known producer of her own stock and be filthy rich!

Many of these birds are found in remote areas and then shipped to the U.S. I am sure it is quite expensive to do so and I am sure there are multitudes of losses while they are being shipped and then quarantined. Lots of them are centuries old and just found in a few rare places with limited numbers.
In example, the Breda fowl I am trying to get a start of, are a very old breed believed to be the start of many modern day birds. There were some in the U.S. back in the late 1800s. However they were either bred out or eliminated because they are slow growers. And they were never accepted into the standard of perfection because they were referred to by different names. They are awesome birds though and so unique it is a real shame. There is a trend in animals to go back to heritage breeds these days because we are finding that many good traits have been bred out by cross breeding. Any bird/animal that grows slower is going to produce better meat and the hens will lay longer than a fast growing breed. Also some of the newer breeds are less hardy.
I want to be a part of the people who help some of these breeds recover again. Plus I've always loved having anything that wasn't common place. I used to grow some very rare flowers for the same reason. Paying a fortune for seeds and then waiting years for a plant to bloom for the first time.
I guess that is why I am so broke today!!!

 

[chicken danz]

Do Turkeys eggs do better with a little higher temp in the incubator? I hatched 4 of the 6 turkey eggs and one was not fertile, I added 12 chicken eggs after the turkey eggs had been in for 7 days, only had two roos hatch and one was blind. Then I've tried to hatch two more batches and had about the same results, those that made it were roos, about 8 roos to 1 pullet. Do Roos tolerate higher incubator temps? My incubator came preset, but I'm wondering if it's to warm. It stays between 99.5 and 100.0, and my second thermometer agrees on the temp. I wonder if I should lower the heat, what's your opinion?

I read posts about people letting their eggs cool or settle before putting them in the incubator, is that helpful?

I would guess that you probably have hot and cold spots in your incubator. Does it have a fan?

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

http://topeka.craigslist.org/grd/3356264341.html

Did anyone see this?

Cayenne pepper is another "good" thing to add to poultry diet. It is full of vitamins and the birds can't taste the "hot".