The book is: California Poultry Practice: Plain Hints for Beginners in the Rearing, Housing, Feeding, Protecting from Pests and Diseases and Marketing of Poultry Products you can download the book for free here: Google Book Search Page 29... "Mate your male bird with more females than ordinary and if they are older it won't matter. The eggs will not be so fertile as if you had less females with him but the bulk of the chicks will be pullets. And you can afford to lose a few eggs if you want pullets. Also the last eggs at the end of the season are nearly always pullets." I posted in this section of the forums, because this book ALSO has a VERY informative section on incubation. I learned a great deal already including the notion that the eggs SHOULD NOT be exposed to light during the incubation period. That's right.. no light. I also learned that we might just consider the phases of the moon when we're artificially incubating. Hope you enjoy the read, it's free.
I'll read that for sure......last hatch I did I have 9 cockerals and 3 pullets, but they were shipped and not my own...
thanks for posting the link to the book - a great read and a good resource for my chicken library...will have to try some of his recommendations.
I would like to say that I am a skeptic. Especially since one good mating with a hen can produce fertile eggs for 3 weeks, and the female determines gender. What does the rooster have to do with it besides provide the sperm that always says girl.
I would like to say that I am a skeptic. I agree with you silkie. I wouldn't want to bet money on that book.
From www.thepoultrysite.com In birds, the female determines the gender of her offspring. At the moment the yolk is formed, the sex of the resulting chick is already decided. In mammals, gender is determined by the male, and fixed only after fertilisation.