How to sex the baby chicks?

[yinepu]

I'll play another round. I'm kind of relunctant because I expect someone to read this and misunderstand it is just a hypothetical game. Somebody is going to think we are serious about this. I worked with people before I retired. It's amazing how easy it is for a false rumor to get started.
Purely hypothetical assuming that you could sex them by egg shape (which I still don't accept) and that egg shape is inherited and sex linked. I believe your question is wouldn't these become extinct if they developed a line that only laid eggs that produced females.
To breed this chicken that only lays "female" eggs, they would have to originally breed a rooster to a hen. You would have one line of chickens that breeds the roosters and one line that breeds the hens used to make this "super-hen", much like they do now with commercial broilers and egg layers. The only way this could be sex-linked would be for the "male" trait to be dominant and the rooster to be pure for the "female-only" gene and the hens to have the "male" gene.
Based on what I've seen in my flock and what has happened in industry, I'd venture to say this sex-linked sexing gene does not exist, whether it is tied to egg shape or not, so this is hypothetic only.
Kovalines, mine are a mixed "mutt" flock. I'll be hatching some purebreds I'm getting from someone else. Those will be randon shapes, but those will be easy to tell apart from my mutts.. I'll also throw some of my mutt eggs in there. All these will be clearly pointy, not sort of and not maybe but clearly pointy, just to see what happens. But mine are not set up for any type of sexlink sexing and I don't vent-sex. Not only do I not have that skill but I wouldn't trust my old eyes anymore for that fine work. It will be months before I know the sex of those chicks.

Oh I'm sure there are people who are reading this that think we are dead serious and have some sort of scientific data to back it all up (and that we have probably made our reservations at the local looney bin).. maybe we need a giant disclaimer stating THIS IS JUST FOR FUN!..

I

think even if I had 100 hatches that all came out like my last one I would STILL doubt the whole egg shape sexing thing.. common sense still tells me this is a fluke unless it worked 100% of the time for 100% of all people who tried it

but ya have to admit that it's fun and we are all getting a good chuckle from it

 

[yinepu]

I sell a pullet dust....sprinkle a little over the eggs before setting, will give you more pullets than males. Only $20.00 plus $20.00 shipping and handling . if you get more males than pullets will refund your money.....sorry can't refund shipping and handling cost.


I used it on my last batch of 4 eggs....hatch 3 all pullets......get you pullet dust now before the hatcheries buy me out.









.




.

nah.. can't use the pullet dust here...I may have allergies

I just need some fresh batteries for my magic wand that I wave over the eggs while dressed in a chicken suit as I dance around at the full moon just so I can get more cockerels.. low batteries are the reason why I got so many darn pullets this last time around...

 

[yinepu]

Thanks for the advice on feather sexing. I had never heard of it, but after viewing the video, I wouldn't think a huge hatchery would use a method that wasn't to their benefit. I will be getting a dozen new little chicks in April and am beside myself with anticipation. This is my second order from Ideal and had great luck with them the first time, 5 years ago. I look forward to looking at their wings, as all of them are supposed to be female (except maybe the packing peanuts). Thanks again and good luck with your new little ones.

even the hatcheries make mistakes.. especially when you consider how many chicks they have to feather sex or vent sex during an average day.. I think that's why most have some sort of disclaimer on their websites saying that they are either 80 or 90% accurate.. I know when I was sexing chicks we would get a few that were hard to tell.. usually tried to toss them into a straight run batch just to be on the safe side
So hopefully you get exactly what you asked for !

 

[bestpractice]

I think we covered this at the start of this thread, but unless the father is pure for the fast-feathering gene and the mother is pure for the slow-feathering gene, feather sexing does not work. If the results you see when looking at the feathers on your chicks does not match your expectations or is even the opposite of your expectations, don't panic. It just means that the parents were not set up for it. Typically, the hatcheries we buy from are not set up for it. I don't know any that we buy from that are.

It's nice of you to share genetic information (I'm interested in genetics). IMO sexing a chicken for my own information is pretty straight forward and doesn't require extensive knowledge about which chicken has what gene -- it's interesting, just not required for sexing. Feather sexing works on "most standard breeds" that are purchased from reputable hatcheries or breeders. Another option is to look at the vent sexing video if you have concerns about feather sexing. While vent sexing is a little more difficult people can learn to vent sex with a minimal amount of practice. It is not complicated and it's fun for people to find out if they have a boy or a girl. I just about fell over laughing when I found out how easy it is. I was expecting to spend a great deal of time researching and learning. Too funny! The kids in 4-H should be taught how to do it, it's that easy.

 

[bestpractice]

I sell a pullet dust....sprinkle a little over the eggs before setting, will give you more pullets than males. Only $20.00 plus $20.00 shipping and handling . if you get more males than pullets will refund your money.....sorry can't refund shipping and handling cost.


I used it on my last batch of 4 eggs....hatch 3 all pullets......get you pullet dust now before the hatcheries buy me out.









.




.

Maybe you can patent the dust but you can't patent the computer readable medium with a program for determining the sex of a fertilized egg by its shape. Someone beat you to it. It should be interesting to find out what happens in 2022 when the patent expires. He who laughs last

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7167579/claims.html

 

[bestpractice]

I have started a new post titled "You Can Sex an Egg?" which is based on my research -- that makes me the author so feel free to express yourself. I moved it to the egg forum because, well, it is about eggs

.

Sexing live chickens belongs here. I have to say that feather sexing is done by most of the larger hatcheries for "standard breed". I believe Ridgerunner and I share completely different views on this subject. All is good, differing opinions sparks new ideas.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm specifically talking about Ideal, McMurray, Cackle, the types of hatcheries that we normally buy our chicks from. I'm basing some of my comments on a long ago specific post by a lady from Ideal that mentioned how they selected their breeders. They do not keep two separate flocks to produce specific roosters pure for the fast feathering gene and a separate flock to produce the slow-feathering mothers. Also there is a Mike Rowe Dirty Jobs episode at McMurray where they show them vent sexing. If they went to the trouble and extra expense to set it up for feather-sexing, then I'd expect them to feather sex instead of vent sex. I'd also expect the hatcheries to offer sexed bantams.

Feather sexing is extremely common in the hatcheries for the large commercial firms. I don't know if that is the ones you are talking about? We may not be as far apart as you think, but then we may.

If you are saying that you do not require the father to be pure for the fast feathering gene and the mother for the dominant slow-feathering gene for feather-sexing newly hatched chicks to work, would you mind giving some links so I can see the genetics behind that. I would appreciate it.

 

[bestpractice]

I'm specifically talking about Ideal, McMurray, Cackle, the types of hatcheries that we normally buy our chicks from. I'm basing some of my comments on a long ago specific post by a lady from Ideal that mentioned how they selected their breeders. They do not keep two separate flocks to produce specific roosters pure for the fast feathering gene and a separate flock to produce the slow-feathering mothers. Also there is a Mike Rowe Dirty Jobs episode at McMurray where they show them vent sexing. If they went to the trouble and extra expense to set it up for feather-sexing, then I'd expect them to feather sex instead of vent sex. I'd also expect the hatcheries to offer sexed bantams.
Feather sexing is extremely common in the hatcheries for the large commercial firms. I don't know if that is the ones you are talking about? We may not be as far apart as you think, but then we may.
If you are saying that you do not require the father to be pure for the fast feathering gene and the mother for the dominant slow-feathering gene for feather-sexing newly hatched chicks to work, would you mind giving some links so I can see the genetics behind that. I would appreciate it.

The only thing I'm saying is that sexing a chick isn't all that hard. That has been my position from the beginning.

 

[yinepu]

The only thing I'm saying is that sexing a chick isn't all that hard. That has been my position from the beginning.

sexing a chick is easy.. the problem is that it's also easy for someone who doesn't know what they are doing to seriously hurt a chick when vent sexing... which I think is the reason why so many people hesitate..


I know there are videos on the subject.. however I haven't watched any of them.. so I'm not sure just how good they are..
personally I would rather teach someone in person.. it's easier that way plus you can show them what to look for and also watch their technique to tell them what they are doing wrong

 

[kovalines]

I've never tried vent sexing, but I don't think it is too hard. It's just practice...