Egg gender selection survey

[Penny Hen]

I have noticed that a great number of people here at BYC steer away from vent sexing. I don't know if they think it is just too icky or impossible to see. My eyesight is no longer strong enough to sex with day old large fowl chickens. At least not with reading glasses and even 3.00 reading glasses don't give me enough detail. I have some damage and some astigmatisms that require prisms to correct. (I have a eye doctor appointment in June.) But if I let the chicks grow out 2 to 3 weeks their "bits" are large enough for me to see. I haven't grown out any bantams yet or attempted to vent sex them. I have used vent sexing and used feathering to verify it later. And even later still if they start crowing or not. I have only made one wrong call and in that case the chick was under 2 weeks when I vent sexed him.

If you find it too icky just get some plastic gloves and withhold food overnight and sex in the morning. There are some perfectly good videos on YouTube that show the proper way to vent sex. The good thing about waiting 2 weeks is that the chicks are not as delicate and you are not as likely to hurt them if you are a little clumsy at first. Most of course scream indignantly like you are going to murder them though.

I have a hen that lays torpedoes. Half of the eggs she lays are so rounded at both ends I have look at them several minutes before deciding which end is up. And some of them it is a blind guess because she lays a wedding mint green egg that my current flashlight (2000 lumen) can't quite see into. I am going to order the 3000 lumen one next month.

 

[junebuggena]

Most do not vent sex because it's just not very simple. The differences between males and females can be very subtle.

 

[Penny Hen]

Most do not vent sex because it's just not very simple. The differences between males and females can be very subtle.

I see what you mean. My chickens are all interrelated and resemble that first pair so it is fairly clear in the bloodline that I have. But with other breeds and bloodlines it could be less so.

 

[ashleymroles]

"Round" and "Pointy" are pretty subjective, it would be better if you could chart the actual ratios of length to width and then compare. I could possibly try to put a chart together for you, but so far the data seems to be all over the place without much in common.

Agreed. Height/width/weight measurements and ratios would give some additional quantitative data to allow the experiment to be replicated. While it won't account for external factors like incubator/genetic variability, at least we can compare apples to apples. Subjectivity in descriptors and failure to define pertinent vocabulary is deadly for data driven research. More quantitative data yields a well supported conclusion.

P.S. I'm a (nearly) certified math teacher and can input data into an excel document and run some analysis. I'm just finishing up my master's degree this summer so I'll have quite a bit of extra time. My summer starts May 15th. I could possibly use a google spreadsheet and each person can input their own data.

 

[Penny Hen]

Agreed. Height/width/weight measurements and ratios would give some additional quantitative data to allow the experiment to be replicated. While it won't account for external factors like incubator/genetic variability, at least we can compare apples to apples. Subjectivity in descriptors and failure to define pertinent vocabulary is deadly for data driven research. More quantitative data yields a well supported conclusion.

P.S. I'm a (nearly) certified math teacher and can input data into an excel document and run some analysis. I'm just finishing up my master's degree this summer so I'll have quite a bit of extra time. My summer starts May 15th. I could possibly use a google spreadsheet and each person can input their own data.

What about using a compass to measure the angle on the eggs pointy end? That along with the circumference around the broadest point and another circumference around the big end and the little end?

 

[CherriesBrood]

Most do not vent sex because it's just not very simple. The differences between males and females can be very subtle.

I understand what you are saying, but this chart can be very helpful with vent sexing! I have done it once, i watched some videos and did my research so I know how, I got one correct that was a boy and the other I thought was a female but turned out to be a boy. This chart can now help me with my future hatches, because it is really hard! Thanks so much for posting this!

 

[ashleymroles]

What about using a compass to measure the angle on the eggs pointy end? That along with the circumference around the broadest point and another circumference around the big end and the little end?

I think you mean protractor. That could work. Put the center of the protractor on the center of the egg (the point where lines of symmetry intersect) and measure..something. The angle may be too small. It may also vary depending on which side of the egg we're looking at.

The circumference idea is perfect. That will essentially give us the angle; or at least a quantifier for the change in width.

 

[junebuggena]

I understand what you are saying, but this chart can be very helpful with vent sexing! I have done it once, i watched some videos and did my research so I know how, I got one correct that was a boy and the other I thought was a female but turned out to be a boy. This chart can now help me with my future hatches, because it is really hard! Thanks so much for posting this!

It's confusing, and some of the female pictures look a lot like the male examples, and some of the male pics are similar to some of the female. It's way more complicated than most think it is. It's more an art than an exact science, and even the most experienced vent sexers will make mistakes. That's a big reason why I wait till my chicks are 4 to 6 weeks old to sell them. I can be sure of the gender, and I can charge a bit more for my pullets since they don't need heat any longer.

 

[CherriesBrood]

I understand what you are saying, but this chart can be very helpful with vent sexing! I have done it once, i watched some videos and did my research so I know how, I got one correct that was a boy and the other I thought was a female but turned out to be a boy. This chart can now help me with my future hatches, because it is really hard! Thanks so much for posting this!

It's confusing, and some of the female pictures look a lot like the male examples, and some of the male pics are similar to some of the female. It's way more complicated than most think it is. It's more an art than an exact science, and even the most experienced vent sexers will make mistakes. That's a big reason why I wait till my chicks are 4 to 6 weeks old to sell them. I can be sure of the gender, and I can charge a bit more for my pullets since they don't need heat any longer.

Yeah I do the same thing as you, i just like to sorta know what each chicks gender is for fun.

 

[Manningjw]

I've got a pullet that lays the same shape, and the same shade of blue. The only way I can tell the eggs apart is the size. My older hen's eggs are much bigger than my pullet, who has only been laying since January. My other Easter Egger lays rounded green eggs. I've eggs from all three in the incubator, due to hatch any day now. I'll be adding the results from that hatch to this page in another month or so.

My experience is the same, the hen lays different shaped eggs and that is separated from gender. If shape determined gender, some hens would only produce females or males and that hasn't been my experience. Our Blue Andalusian hen used to lay torpedo shaped eggs (when she was alive anyhow) and my current EE or Barred Ameraucana project hen lays a nearly perfectly round egg, but her sister lays an egg that is consistently the typical shape you expect an egg to be. I have both in the incubator right now and luckily they are barred so I will be able to determine gender at hatch.