Excited!!! But what are my odds for girls?

[happymom99]

I am thrilled because I found someone near my home willing to sell me silkie chicks for a reasonable price and take back any I don't want once they are older and we can tell if they are hens or Roos. I would like to end up with two hens. Do you think if I buy six unsexed chicks I have a good chance of ending up with two hens?

Thank you,
CJ

 

[Syharrison]

why dont you just buy two hens?

 

[happymom99]

We are limited on the number of chickens we can have and my son has his heart set on a lap chicken. We are hoping if we get them as chicks and spend a lot of time we with them we will have a better chance of that. The five hens we have now we got as pullets and they are sweet, but nowhere near being lap chickens.

CJ

 

[BlazeJester]

Your chances of getting 2 hens are pretty good with 6 chicks. Being able to give them back to the breeder is also a great deal. Planning on adding 2 blue/green egg laying hens to my flock, I just ended up with 9. Should end up with several hens... choosing which to keep and which to sell is the real bugger. I'm actually hoping for several roos to make the decision easier for me!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Your odds are really good. 2 raised to the 6th power gives you 64 different possible combinations. Out of these 64, there is one chance you will get 6 males. There are 6 chances you will get 5 males and 1 female. There are 57 out of 64 chances you will get two or more females.

I once got 7 pullets out of 7, which are odds of 1 in 128, so I certainly don't make guarantees. But I like your odds. They come out to be 89%.

 

[Grizzlegear]

Your odds are really good. 2 raised to the 6th power gives you 64 different possible combinations. Out of these 64, there is one chance you will get 6 males. There are 6 chances you will get 5 males and 1 female. There are 57 out of 64 chances you will get two or more females.

I once got 7 pullets out of 7, which are odds of 1 in 128, so I certainly don't make guarantees. But I like your odds. They come out to be 89%.

You seem to be a math master.
I plan on getting four chicks.
I know that two raise to the fourth power is 16, but I have no clue what my chances of males versus females is. I'm aiming to get two hens as well.

 

[Grizzlegear]

Aloha! You seem like a math master! I am getting four silkies, and I'm also hoping to get two hens. I know that 2 to the fourth power is 16, but I can't figure out much beyond that. Any clue what my odds are? Much thanks in advance

 

[Ridgerunner]

You have 16 possible combinations. The odds are:

0 girls = 1 in 16
1 girl = 4 in 16 or 1 in 4
2 girls = 6 in 16 or 3 in 8
3 girls = 4 in 16 or 1 in 4
4 girls = 1 in 16

Your odds of getting 2 or more girls out of 4 chicks is 11 out of 16.

 

[Grizzlegear]

Thank you so much! Unfortunately, my odds just decreased substantially. The breeder I ordered from is only going to have three for me instead of four. Oh well! I'm going to hope for the best!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Eight possible combinations.

0 girls - 1 in 8
1 girl - 3 in 8
2 girls - 3 in 8
3 girls - 1 in 8

So 50-50 for at least two girls.