I heard a study long ago about if a hen is stressed then lays a clutch then goes broody most chicks will be hens

[Bryce Thomas]

This might sound weird but I have heard a study done in australia that wondered if you stress out a hen while she is laying a clutch of eggs most eggs will be hens, and what I mean be stress is just stress such as overmating by a rooster, bullying, low food or very little and so on. I then realized that my black hen shadow was stressed while having her clutch about 2 months ago and so far all the chickies that are about 10 weeks old still appear to be females? Do you believe that study is true or not?

Edit: https://www.poultryworld.net/Health...y-to-produce-female-chicks-325762E/?cmpid=NLC

 

[TheCluckyClucker2]

Interesting. I think you may have got lucky though.

 

[sourland]

No, I don't believe this.

 

[-Flash-]

Odd.

 

[MTKitty]

This made me wonder about sex determination in chickens, so I looked it up and learned something. In humans, it is the male’s x or y contribution that determines the baby’s sex; but with chickens, it is the hen’s z or w that determines a chick’s sex.

I recall reading about a study of humans that suggested stress in a man’s life could influence the viability of the sex-determinant chromosomes. Controlled testing was too difficult to bring the study to any firm conclusion, though.

Assuming it is true, I would think timing the stress to bring about greater numbers of one gender over the other might prove too difficult to be useful. Not to mention the trade off in negative impacts to the hen’s health brought about by potentially sustained high stress levels.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Interesting. Not to mention, a certain amount of stress can cause a hen to stop laying entirely, so I can only imagine the stress/ frustration level of the scientists trying to carry out such an experiment.

 

[sourland]

Interesting. Not to mention, a certain amount of stress can cause a hen to stop laying entirely, so I can only imagine the stress/ frustration level of the scientists trying to carry out such an experiment.

My immediate thought.

 

[Yardmom]

I have read that stress to a hen may influence the gender of the chicks, but my understanding was that stress caused more male chicks.

 

[Weeg]

This is very interesting. I could see how this would work, but looks to me like there isn't enough sure information to prove accuracy.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Just can't imagine how you measure stress on a chicken. EKG? And how do you stress her? Electrodes? Make her watch bad movies? Political commercials? Dr. Phil?