Does Lowering The Incubators Temperature Kill The Male Embryos?

[MysteryChicken]

What hatch rates are you getting?

I'm interested in how many eggs total, how many males, how many females, and how many did not hatch.

Usually 4-5 eggs per batch I do usually.


2018 - 2019
My very first hatch with refrigerated eggs was under a broody hen. 1 male, & 3 females.

2nd batch under a broody hen. 1 male, & 2 females.

First incubator hatch 2 eggs, 1 male(He died) 1 female.

3rd, 4th batch was shipped eggs, they don't count.

5th Batch Silkies - 1 male, 3 females


2020 - 2021

6th Batch - 1 male, 2 females

7th Batch - Silkies 14 chicks total, 2, males, 12 females(Spared 2 from the sell group)

8th batch - 6 females, 4 males

Unrefrigerated group

9th Batch, 6 males, 4 Females

10th group 2 males, 2 females

 

[saysfaa]

Something to think about - even if it worked, do you really want to stress developing babies to the point of intentionally killing half of them?

Wouldn't that have some kind of effect on the others? Even if it isn't obvious right away.

edit to add. Oh. Half dying isn't the issue to the theory. I had never looked up bird reproductive system in this much detail.
https://theconversation.com/how-birds-become-male-or-female-and-occasionally-both-112061

 

[NatJ]

Usually 4-5 eggs per batch I do usually.


2018 - 2019
My very first hatch with refrigerated eggs was under a broody hen. 1 male, & 3 females.

2nd batch under a broody hen. 1 male, & 2 females.

First incubator hatch 2 eggs, 1 male(He died) 1 female.

3rd, 4th batch was shipped eggs, they don't count.

5th Batch Silkies - 1 male, 3 females


2020 - 2021

6th Batch - 1 male, 2 females

7th Batch - Silkies 14 chicks total, 2, males, 12 females(Spared 2 from the sell group)

8th batch - 6 females, 4 males

Unrefrigerated group

9th Batch, 6 males, 4 Females

10th group 2 males, 2 females

How many in each group failed to hatch?

 

[MysteryChicken]

How many in each group failed to hatch?

I've only had 4 deaths, 1 due suffocation, 2 due to shrink wrapping, 1 unknown.

 

[NatJ]

I've only had 4 deaths, 1 due suffocation, 2 due to shrink wrapping, 1 unknown.

And no infertile ones or ones that quit early?

In that case, I think your birds have just been producing eggs that mostly hatch females.
The idea of lowering the incubator temperature, or refrigerating eggs, is that it kills some of the male embryos. Dead embryos would show up as eggs that fail to hatch.

 

[MysteryChicken]

And no infertile ones or ones that quit early?

In that case, I think your birds have just been producing eggs that mostly hatch females.
The idea of lowering the incubator temperature, or refrigerating eggs, is that it kills some of the male embryos. Dead embryos would show up as eggs that fail to hatch.

Refrigeration is supposed to change the sex of male chicks. Only chicks that I've had die mostly are from shipped eggs, or from incubation error from a faulty incubator.

 

[BlueBaby]

Okay, but that doesn't make them reptiles. Just because they were related to a reptile millions of years ago, doesn't make them a retile now.
This is just my opinion.

I agree. They said that human's evolved from apes too, then other's said that we were related to bird's, so are we reptile's too?

 

[MysteryChicken]

I agree. They said that human's evolved from apes too, then other's said that we were related to bird's, so are we reptile's too?

Who said we're related to birds?

Us humans, & birds took different evolutionary routes. We evolved from Therapsids, which weren't quite mammals, nor reptiles.

Birds evolved from dinosaurs, or bird like dinosaurs.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Also, the refrigerated eggs I hatch are between 2-3 weeks old most of the time.
Sometimes they aren't refrigerated that long, occasionally no more then 7 days at least.

Why would you do this? Is it for this less males idea or?
Seems you'd be setting a lot of eggs that wouldn't hatch.

 

[NatJ]

Refrigeration is supposed to change the sex of male chicks.

How?

If a male embryo has ZZ sex chromosomes, I do not see any way refrigerating it can make the chromosomes become ZW. Cold temperature is not going to add something that was not there before (W chromosome.)

(And yes, it is very clear that chicken gender is determined by the chromosomes. All those sexlink hybrids are based on it, and they are so common we know it works.)

Only chicks that I've had die mostly are from shipped eggs, or from incubation error from a faulty incubator.

That's great! But if you have no dead embryos, it means you are not doing anything that kills male embryos.