Hatching more pullets than cockerels - WHAT'S YOUR SECRET?

[maryhysong]

I found this old thread when I was searching for info on controlling the sex of chicks through temperature or other manipulation. I was going to start a new thread with the links I found but instead will just copy them over here.

I had a thought that maybe you could control the sex of your chicks by some different techniques that would result in say more boys that girls at hatch or vice versa, so have googled it and found some interesting articles out there so I though I'd post them here for others to find.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/a-drop-in-temperature-can-change-the-sex-of-chickens-1238516.html

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/6/6-3/determining_sex_in_chicks.html

http://ps.fass.org/content/90/10/2402.full This one is a study on quail and one of the interesting bits in it is that the age of the grandparents when the parental eggs were gathered might have an effect on the numbers of each sex in the second generation.

http://sciencefocus.com/qa/can-chickens-really-change-gender this one gives no references but suggests that cooling eggs after laying for 3 days increases the number of egg laying, functional, female appearing chickens, even tho their chromosomes are male.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/May05/birds.gender.ssl.html Not of practical use to back yard breeders but some evidence that it's the hormone levels of the hen that determines ratios of male:female in offspring

 

[sunflowerparrot]

When you say lower temp - what temp would I want to set my incubator to help increase more hens? I'm willing to experiment!

 

[flappinhappy]

Some hens DO produce more pullets however I just hatch and keep what is needed and freeze the rest...not like they taste different anyway

 

[20736]

Heck, I can't even tell what the sex is gonna be AFTER they hatch!
How am I gonna tell BEFORE they hatch!
Jeeeeeezzz.

 

[novanod1966]

i've had finches for years and lately they have determined that the Lady Gouldian HEN controls the sex of the chicks. also, if the male's head color is different than her own, she can manipulate so that the offspring is only males.......some serious genetic control there!
i dont have the links for this but if your interested you could probably google it and find it that way.

the studies that have been made are actually from biologists that have a control group and experimental group (these birds usually stay and breed in groups). the Lady Gouldian Finch is really amazing when it comes to genetics: head color, breast color, total body mutations.... etc.

i know this is for finches but if there is THAT much genetic/sex manipulation going on in a finch (and probably more that we dont know about)..... we really dont know much about chickens/ducks/geese/ or turkeys now do we?

don

 

[maryhysong]

When you say lower temp - what temp would I want to set my incubator to help increase more hens? I'm willing to experiment!

one of the experiments showed that incubating at slightly lower or higher temps did affect the outcome on sex BUT what appeared to be happening was that there was more mortality in the opposite sex at different temps which affected the ratio of male;female in the survivors. Not something I want to experiment with.

 

[wildriverswolf90]

I recently tried round vs pointy. I put 32 eggs my bator, 20 round ones and 4 pointy ones(from my mixed flock of orps, EEs, cochins, brahmas, and australorp). I also add 4 delware eggs, since they are always round and 4 modern games, that are almost always point.

Of the mixed flock 24 eggs it looks like all 4 from pointy eggs are boy plus 1 from a round egg. 19:5 ratio
The delawares I got 3 girls, the other egg didn't hatch.
And the games I got 2 boys, 2 girls. 50:50 ratio.

 

[maryhysong]

I recently tried round vs pointy. I put 32 eggs my bator, 20 round ones and 4 pointy ones(from my mixed flock of orps, EEs, cochins, brahmas, and australorp). I also add 4 delware eggs, since they are always round and 4 modern games, that are almost always point.
Of the mixed flock 24 eggs it looks like all 4 from pointy eggs are boy plus 1 from a round egg. 19:5 ratio
The delawares I got 3 girls, the other egg didn't hatch.
And the games I got 2 boys, 2 girls. 50:50 ratio.

I think it probably would depend on your particular strain/genetics, much like some of breeds that are sexable at hatch by their markings; some strains are more reliable than others.

 

[simplypc]

I'm getting insane girl ratios. As hatch was 24 pullets and 3 roos. Of course I set 46 eggs so my guess is the roos are in the bunch of eggs that did not hatch. Trying to find the variable but have not. It's been this way for 4 hatches now. Put 4 dozen in get 27 to 28 eggs hatch with all pullets but 3 to 4.

 

[lazy gardener]

It may be temp related. Are you getting your hatch on day 21? What ever you are doing, keep doing it!