How many eggs to get 1 female?

[danischi24]

How many eggs should I buy to ensure 1 female chick? I know that very bad luck could get me 20 roosters in a go but that's not normal

. What's the average to get 1 female? These are 1 batch silkie & 1 batch silkie cross cochin eggs.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

It is usually 50% females and 50% males. So with 10 eggs you should get around 5 males and 5 females.

 

[Oblio13]

I roughly figure that half my eggs will hatch, half of those will be female, and half of those will survive to biological maturity.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

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it never works out that way. this year my hatch has been 80% hens last year it was 80% roosters.

 

[shmooborp]

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good ovservation... so if u have 10 eggs then 5 should hatch ... then 3ish would survive to maturity, and one or two willbe hens or roos.

 

[danischi24]

Suicidal eventer, ay?

Give me a jump that DOES fall down any day.So I'm looking at about 8 eggs for 1 female?

 

[Henrietta23]

Here's my actual experience for what it's worth. I've hatched twice, both times with 8 eggs. Each time 4 hatched and one died. The first time all three survivors were roos. The second time all three were pullets (unless Perfectly Polish has an update for me).

 

[danischi24]

So how many for a female? All I want is one pullet from each batch & I'm having to hatch a bunch of eggs just for that even though I'm going to army & don't have time for this

Army is compulsory here. How can I have the best chance of a pullet? I hate rehoming my birds & no home is ever quite good enough no matter how perfect so I want a minimum number of chicks that need rehoming after I pick my pullet.

 

[silkiechicken]

If you are hatching AND transporting them, that transportation can really kill hatch rate along with age of eggs. With small numbers, that 50/50 thing can be greatly bias due to small numbers. But, regardless, figure 50/50 hatch and 50/50 gender, with that possible 50/50 not making it. So if you just want one, which really you should raise more than one chick at a time, I'd get at least 8 eggs.

If you had your own birds and didn't need to transport eggs, had a bator that was well tested for where you are hatching and for the type of egg, (such as doing test runs with eggs that are less important, you could go with less of the type you want. But if you really want one, more is better to ensure the adventure wasn't a total bust.