Hens VS Roosters

[jthorpe]

when you hatch eggs in an incubator how can you make sure you are getting Hens not Roosters? I thought that there was something about the temp in the incubator however I can't find anything. Can anyone help me with my question?

 

[Vamvakas]

Cant, you will prob get more roosters then hens. There's a rumor that if you put eggs in cool place yell get more girls than boys but I think that's just propaganda.

 

[SherrieT]

I really think that if all those old wives tales were true then no one here would be wondering what to do with extra roos because there wouldn't be any

 

[The Chickeneer]

There is no such way..........

You will always get about fifty-fifty. But I have herd that if you put the incubator temp a bit higher, mostly girls will hatch, but this is because the higher temp kills the male embryos, meaning mostly girls will hatch, but you will have a lesser hatch rate due to the unhatched dead male chicks. Perhaps making sure your breeding cock is in a warm/hot place so there is less live male sperm, but iduno guess you just need to experiment a little bit, good luck

 

[Darklingstorm]

I also researched this and found that yes temperatures can influence female to male ratio but only in lizards, something about them being cold blooded and all. Sorry no such luck when it comes to birds.

 

[jessica.anne]

I was gonna say that I've heard this can happen in gators. Was wondering if it applied to birds as well, but it's cold blooded animals only.

 

[mohillbilly]

feed your hens a high protein diet and you will get more pullets in your hatches. I usually can get a 80% pullets 20% roosters and I have gotten 100% pullets in a few hatches. So you know diet has a lot to do with it I set 500 eggs at a time.

 

[LilyD]

I once had someone tell me if you added a couple of capfuls of apple cider vinegar to the moms water then when they lay eggs you will get more pullets and less roos. I have never tried it though and I did hear that you can't use a metal waterer with this because it taints the metal somehow.

 

[CALI CHICK]

I once had someone tell me if you added a couple of capfuls of apple cider vinegar to the moms water then when they lay eggs you will get more pullets and less roos. I have never tried it though and I did hear that you can't use a metal waterer with this because it taints the metal somehow.

Apple cider vinegar is good for preventing parasites anyway...so it couldn't hurt. My girls prefer a little garlic in their water, though!

 

[jthorpe]

Thanks for your answers everyone.