does incubation temp affect gender in quail?

[Kel60]

Just an odd thought I had and thought I'd ask. I know this is the case with many reptiles, and was curious if incubation temp can effect gender in qauil(and other birds) to.

 

[Nabiki]

The research has been done. Believe me, if gender could be determined before hatch, hatcheries would be all over it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It does not affect gender in any birds. Sex is determined by the hen so in effect, sex is determined before the egg is fertilized, in fact, before the follicle drops into the infundibulum.

In most animals that incubation temperature is supposed to alter sex, that is usually due to More of one sex surviving or more accurately, more of one sex not surviving incubation due to less than optimal temperature.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Just an odd thought I had and thought I'd ask. I know this is the case with many reptiles, and was curious if incubation temp can effect gender in qauil(and other birds) to.

Hi there, hope you are enjoying BYC!

I haven't yet incubated anything other than a whole bunch of chicks.. but quail are avian and I've done enough to have lots of blunders and share a few result.. along with some links for reference that I thought were interesting reads..

Extended power outages and accidental temperature spikes.. provided an equal gender count with equal amount of deformities.. bent toes, missing eyes, etc. Life is complex.. provide optimal conditions and IF all the cells get all the right signals.. something will hatch and live.. To SOME degree.. things have to go right even AFTER hatch.. as hormones can still be heavily impacted or go awry down the road.. which diminishes their reproductive ability and can impact behavior but does not change their actual gender. Hens still have ovaries and roosters still have testes internally my can be shrunken in size on one side or both.

My links show that in the eggs where embryo gender is impacted by temperature sensitivity, looks like it might have been the middle trimester that counted respectively..
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9989/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature-dependent_sex_determination

Interesting question I spent last night asking myself. What I've read is that while sex is determined by the hen, eggs kept at cold temperatures (40 degrees or so) before incubation result in more females.

Most people presume that means that the male eggs are less likely to hatch. However, there was a scientific study that found that some male eggs changed to female, and that those surviving females laid eggs that only produced male chicks.

It was enough for me to consider not refrigerating my eggs for the purpose of getting females. I sure would hate to have a hen that only laid male eggs.

Lots of folks have successfully hatched refrigerated eggs and made threads about it. I don't recall their result agreeing.. but maybe you will find some of them and gather the information together or add yours to that you find if there's a comprehensive study already.

I would LOVE to see a link to the study you reference of male embryo's reverting to female and only hatching male offspring.. As unlikely as that sounds.. I did see reference to SOMETHING similar- ISH in OTHER species, not avian!

BTW, dear OP.. that's not an odd thought.. it's very valid and creative question!

Others have even considered if the shape of the egg could predict gender. I think alleging that rounder point were boys and narrower pointy end were girls.. It has no validity as far as I know.. We are essentially armature philosophers essentially but that doesn't stop us from the fun experiments, sharing, and questions like this from taking shape turning into great learning adventures!

Happy hatching!

ETA: I never refrigerate hatching eggs on purpose and have never hatched all females. So I doubt it would work anyways.. but glad to see that you are considering what happens in future generations.. a good reason to hatch from mature birds an NOT pullet eggs.

 

[FloorCandy]

What I’ve read, is that the gender is predetermined when the egg is being made. However, many claim that male embryos are slightly more resilient than females, and if incubation conditions aren’t ideal, female embryos are more likely to be affected.

 

[Kiki]

Just an odd thought I had and thought I'd ask. I know this is the case with many reptiles, and was curious if incubation temp can effect gender in qauil(and other birds) to.

No.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

No intention of trying anything different. As said, there's a huge industry that would sex before incubation if it could.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

Interesting question I spent last night asking myself. What I've read is that while sex is determined by the hen, eggs kept at cold temperatures (40 degrees or so) before incubation result in more females.

Most people presume that means that the male eggs are less likely to hatch. However, there was a scientific study that found that some male eggs changed to female, and that those surviving females laid eggs that only produced male chicks.

It was enough for me to consider not refrigerating my eggs for the purpose of getting females. I sure would hate to have a hen that only laid male eggs.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

I looked but can't find that article in my browsing history. Will post if I find it again.

 

[Ravenlover]

Just an odd thought I had and thought I'd ask. I know this is the case with many reptiles, and was curious if incubation temp can effect gender in qauil(and other birds) to.

No, keep the right temps or risk death,nolife, and deformities