Cream Legbars

[lettie92]

That's great thanks for the advice. Yes I thought so aswell I have 6 females and 2 males

 

[Ashdoes]

I ALWAYS had an 80% male hatch rate. It was incredibly frustrating.

 

[DCchicken]

I ALWAYS had an 80% male hatch rate. It was incredibly frustrating.

It's been the year of the roo for me as well.

 

[stake]

It's been the year of the roo for me as well.

Just curious:

Wonder if this is just another genetic trait that gets passed along....or are there environmental factors?

I'm just getting starting in the CCL breeding, and I have very limited capacity being a real backyard person...so, I have 4 ccl chooks two girls and two boys...all have flaws, and a couple of good traits, and I do not know how (given my limited capacity) how should I be proceeding....

Both girls have just started laying.....the non-crested one is being covered by my #2 roo (the one with too much color, they grew up together)..the crested girl has so far resisted both roo's advances...(she was recently re-homed to me and have only recently been allow to free range with the flock)....

I think both the girls are on the smallish side...Roo #1 is a big boy, Roo#2 is huge for his age....

Any input is greatly appreciated....TIA!!!



Roo#1 (amazung comb, lost to frost bite)

Roo#2

 

[caychris]

It's been the year of the roo for me as well.

I wonder about this at times. It is the hen who determines sex. I know a hen also determines if she fertilizes the eggs or not so I wonder if some of this may be the doing of the hens looking for better more desirable roo traits in mates. Our attempts at a standard may not be what the chicken itself desires. Just thinking out loud.

 

[stake]

I wonder about this at times. It is the hen who determines sex. I know a hen also determines if she fertilizes the eggs or not so I wonder if some of this may be the doing of the hens looking for better more desirable roo traits in mates. Our attempts at a standard may not be what the chicken itself desires. Just thinking out loud.

Chris:

Mostly I agree, but if the hen doesn't like the roo she is mating with and can stop fertility...there'd be no fertile egg....the difference is that eggs are fertile and when hatched are '80%' male....that doesn't seem 'natural' to me....most other animals do a 50/50 or will slant a bit if there is a shortage of one sex...80% seems out side the statistical standard deviation....

 

[DoubleMM]

I've read that some breeders have determined specific hens have consistently put out a higher ratio of pullets or cockerels. If they do not want cockerels they stop setting that hens eggs.

 

[KPenley]

Kind of a guess, but somewhat based on testing, but chemistry has a lot to do with what sex chicks a hen produces. Feed, exercise, environment, and yes even happiness can factor into a hen's chemistry. I feed fermented feeds and usually have equal or female heavy hatches.

@Stake, I would take a year to test hatch ( like rooster 1 over both girls, then rooster 2 over both girls) and study their offspring. Cull offspring for red ear lobes, short backs, lack of cresting, and high tails ( as well sickness, lack of energy, small bodies etc). Then see where you are at that point and make pairings from your best birds that don't have the same faults. Your birds have some good qualities, and if the good points are combined you could end up with some great birds a couple of years down the road!

 

[Ashdoes]

Chris:

Mostly I agree, but if the hen doesn't like the roo she is mating with and can stop fertility...there'd be no fertile egg....the difference is that eggs are fertile and when hatched are '80%' male....that doesn't seem 'natural' to me....most other animals do a 50/50 or will slant a bit if there is a shortage of one sex...80% seems out side the statistical standard deviation....

This is why I had such a problem. Not only the male heavy hatch rate, but the awful total hatch rate. I'm convinced the lack of genetic diversity is a huge cause. I have disbanded my Cream flock, and am only keeping hens for an olive egg project. "Natural" or not, 80% was exactly what we got.

 

[TammyTX]

My experience in hatching EE's and 1/2 Copper Maran's is that in January I hatched 12 eggs under a broody and 9 were female. In April I got 5/5 males. Could temp have anything to do with it...like in turtles?