I met an interesting old man who breeds fowl

[Thomas70]

I went to this man's place who lives in Great Falls, SC which is about 50 south of Charlotte, NC. He raises chickens, pea fowl, turkeys and guineas. I have gray guineas and he has those as well but he also has whites and lavender colored ones which I had never seen before, and I bought one of each. He gets $150 for a white peacock and a hen. He has some exotic white ones he imported and he gets $1500 a pair for them.
The guy is 88 years old knows more about fowl than any guy I have ever met. He showed me how to sex them without having to examine their sex organs. He has a #2 lead pencil with a needle and a piece of string stuck into the eraser and making contact with the lead. He would hold the pencil over the chicken's head and if it circles it is a hen and if it goes side to side it is a rooster. He claims this also works if done over a pregnant woman's stomach to find out the baby's sex. I had never heard that tale so I am a little skeptical that but it makes for good conversation. But as far as sexting chickens it works. We had 11 silky roosters and he took 7 of them off our hands and every one tested right. He also tested the 2 baby guineas and it showed they are hens so we shall see.
He lets his guineas free range like most guineas do but he has them trained to roost in a coop. He said if you let them roost in the trees possums can get them. Plus the guineas lay in the coop and he can gather the eggs for incubation. Guineas build nests on the ground so it is hard to find the eggs. If you let them nest the success rate is very slim because varmints can kill the hen and eat the eggs. If the hen escapes they still eat the eggs.

 

[Elsveta641]

My grandmother told me if you hold a gold ring on a string over your stomach while pregnant, it will circle for a girl and swing in a line for a boy. It was correct with 3/3 of my children. Coincidence certainly but still interesting. I may try it with gender- ambiguous chickens now lol

 

[Thomas70]

My grandmother told me if you hold a gold ring on a string over your stomach while pregnant, it will circle for a girl and swing in a line for a boy. It was correct with 3/3 of my children. Coincidence certainly but still interesting. I may try it with gender- ambiguous chickens now LOL

Now that you have mentioned the ring I thought back and remember some older relative telling me that but I never tried it. I think I will try the ring over a chicken's head just for curiosity.