Beaglegal
Crowing
It just occurred to my Rouen/Cayuga hatchlings were all female and I thought it was just luck. I wonder if my Rouen lays mainly female eggsits common not to beleive it, but alot of people beleive enviromental factors can increase the chances of males hatching
The thaught being that male embryos are stronger and more likily to hatch. So things like putting eggs in the fridge or incubating at hotter temps could hatch out more males. Not that we would on purpose but it could happen accidentaly. I dont beleive this
BUT research tells us that unlike humans the female bird decides the gender of the embyo by giving both sex chromosomes
"In humans, cells in females have two copies of a large, gene-rich chromosome called X. Male cells have one X, and a tiny Y chromosome.
Birds also have sex chromosomes, but they act in completely the opposite way. Male birds have two copies of a large, gene-rich chromosome called Z, and females have a single Z and a W chromosome. The tiny W chromosome is all that is left of an original Z, which degenerated over time, much like the human Y.
When cells in the bird ovary undergo the special kind of division (called “meiosis”) that produces eggs with just one set of chromosomes, each egg cell receives either a Z or a W."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thecon...e-male-or-female-and-occasionally-both-112061
That artical goes on to mention the fact that many wild bird species hatch 1 gender more than the other
Ive heard old stories about someones favorite hen who hatched mostly females, and poor ones who hatch mostly males. I havent hatched nearly enough to form my on stats on it.
But i do feel its possible through generations of selective breeding to breed a hen whos hatchrates favour females. it would take armys of ducks and ducklings and incubators and people and notebooks