Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ChicoryBlue]

The 'Fugly' stage is mine, too. 'Fugly' was stated/made up with love

I can see the cockerel stance there on all but 1!!! I did read an article once that temp. and humidity played a bit of a roll...but I can't find it at the moment. However, if I remember correctly...it only seemed to adjust things 15-20% (I wonder if it actually influenced the hatch rate of each sex, versus affecting the sex itself????)...though no where near your 100% boy hatch. That must be all the mum's fault. Were the eggs all from one hen...or one or two that were closely related? If so, this year I think I would try a different hen.

(@BY Bob might know better, but I was thinking that some human males ONLY have male offspring (or only female), or their offspring are really skewed to one sex or the other. And in humans, the male contribution determines the sex of the offspring. In chickens, it is the female contribution that determines the sex of the offspring....maybe try different hens....OR, do an experiment...half incubator eggs from same hens, half from hens not related to the others...and check hatch sex rate for each half?

I have read on here somewhere and in some other articles that it is the hen not the rooster that controls sex of the offspring. If that is the case, then last year the guilty culprits were Holly, Bunny and Clover. Of my pure marans, which was the majority of what I hatched, and the majority of male chicks those were the mommas. I managed to hatch 4 chicks from Butter and 3 lived, 2 girls 1 boy. Momma hen has had 2 clutches of her own chicks, first clutch had 1 girl and the 2nd had 3 out of 10. The Henrietta chicks I hatched were about roughly around 60% males. I only hatched 3 chicks total from Daisy my other marans and had fertility issues out of her. Of the 3 that hatched I got 3 girls and only kept 1 Clover. Daisy only laid 2 eggs that I know of last year and her eggs are hard to miss, neither one hatched. Corona and Baby are Daisy's granddaughters so hopefully they will produce more girls. This year the cochins are untried, as are the silkies and the new girls. Even though supposedly the rooster does not determine the sex, I will be using new boys this year since Drumsticks passing so hopefully something will give and I will get more pullets. I'm not hoping for a miracle and all pullet hatches, I'll cry tears of relief if I can get close to the 50/50 split. That being said, I have 3 eggs developing from Chiquita, if they hatch, Rosie has already named them, and they are girly names. We will NOT think any boy thoughts at all about those babies. There had better be a girl in that mix or there will be a boy running around with the name of Fifi.

It seems that this is so. At least according to a study referenced in the NY Times. I have not reviewed the study for accuracy and potential limitations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/health/06real.html

Maybe the level of progesterone of the hen matters - study from 2005, but I read trying to put it into practice was not successful commercially.
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/20...ickens,-- produces significantly more females.
"By experimenting with domestic chickens, they have determined that the presence of higher-than-normal levels of the hormone progesterone during the first meiosis -- the cell division that divides the sex chromosomes and genetically determines the sex of an offspring -- produces significantly more females."

Then these guys tried injecting corticosteroids, got more males
https://www.poultryworld.net/Breede...ifying-poultry-offspring-sex-ratio-WP009323W/
"Treatment of hens with high doses of corticosterone five hours prior to lay resulted in the production of 83% male chicks, which was the opposite of expected results. Injections did not have an adverse effect on egg production or fertility. Although the results of this research did not produce the desired results of more female chicks, there was evidence that corticosterone may increase the ratio of male chicks."

I also was reading a bit about sex-determination in wild birds, and this has a lot of bits of information, some of it relevant here, i.e., the condition of the female https://theconversation.com/how-birds-become-male-or-female-and-occasionally-both-112061

 

[BY Bob]

Queen Butter is recruiting a army of tiny terror silkies to do her bidding for her.

This line just plain cracked me. Imagine the images in my mind.

 

[BY Bob]

Catastrophe avoided

Catastrophe avoided. She finally laid her egg and feels much better.

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I'm very happy at this outcome.

 

[BY Bob]

Nice to see them out and about this today?

That was Thursday I believe. They were out again today. More to come.

 

[featherhead007]

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I'm very happy at this outcome.

Happy? Me too! Can you imagine me, giving a colonoscopy to a chicken?

 

[BY Bob]

My Henny Penny has her fourth and fifth toes fused together and thus the nails grow at angles and Curly around cutting into the other toes causing sores if I am not careful.

I have been trying to keep them trimmed but because they curl so much it's almost impossible to trim. Not to mention it impossible to see the quick - as a result I cut it no matter how cautious I try to be. Today I once again hit the quick and it's very distressing to me (more than the hen) as Henny is white and when she roosts she get blood all over her snow white belly, it is just horrible.

Has anyone ever had to deal with this sort of twisty toenails? How did you resolve it? I have a mind to take her to the vet and get them lopped off.

Can you post a picture? I'm not certain how to advise. Aurora has a broken toe that was getting a long nail but it somehow starting wearing down before I had to do too much trimming.

 

[rural mouse]

My Henny Penny has her fourth and fifth toes fused together and thus the nails grow at angles and Curly around cutting into the other toes causing sores if I am not careful.

I have been trying to keep them trimmed but because they curl so much it's almost impossible to trim. Not to mention it impossible to see the quick - as a result I cut it no matter how cautious I try to be. Today I once again hit the quick and it's very distressing to me (more than the hen) as Henny is white and when she roosts she get blood all over her snow white belly, it is just horrible.

Has anyone ever had to deal with this sort of twisty toenails? How did you resolve it? I have a mind to take her to the vet and get them lopped off.

Try file instead of clip

 

[rural mouse]

If someone wants to tick off a tiny yellow hen I can tell you how to do it. While the coop was empty I cleaned it, including the cat carrier that Chiquita sleeps in at night and lays her egg in. I thought she would appreciate the fresh new bedding of hay, but I was wrong. She has been angrily voicing her opinion of her new bed while trying to throw the fresh hay out. I do think I know why she is so upset now though, in the last 2 days she's starting to pluck her breast feathers out. Someone may be gearing up to go broody.

Doesn't that indicate she's comfortable with her new home?

 

[rural mouse]

Try file instead of clip

SHRA tax..again, sigh. When will I learn to catch up first...especially when down several pages (y'all are chatty today! )

 

[featherhead007]

SHRA tax..again, sigh. When will I learn to catch up first...especially when down several pages (y'all are chatty today! )View attachment 2984818

We do it on purpose. Just so we can see more pictures of your lovely birds!