Important info for Cochin breeders!

[Vnctan]

i have been talking with a very good Bantam Cochin breeder in my area and he said a couple of things that I have never heard before and I wanted to share them to see if anyone else had heard them and if this sounds true.

He says: I have just tested two things and found them both accurate: 1) the later in the year you hatch, the more Hens you will get, fewer roosters. 2) if you strain some pigeon grits and put the fines into your brooders with your chicks, no more pasteing up. Just mix these fine grits in with the food. I guess a mother hen finds these grits and sees that her chicks eats them because chicks with a hen never paste up. An old lady here in town told me that, and I did not believe her. Tested her theories and they work!

Also, young started birds are difficult to sex but if you slip a colored piece of paper or cardboard--the paper should contrast with the color of the feather, up under the neck feathers, the rooster's feathers will show a sharpish point, the young hens will have a rounded feather. This little trick is important with Cochins which all look identical when young.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

I don't know about the first one but adding grit to their food does work. I have also heard that if you keep the incubator lower than 99.5 you will get hens There are so many old wives tales out there. Some swear by them others dont

 

[geebs]

Wow.. awesome...........thanks.

 

[TurtleFeathers]

Quote:
I don't know if its true for birds, but its definitely true for reptiles. I know that with tortoise eggs, 84-85 degrees produces more males, 86-87 degrees produces a mix of both sexes, and 88-89 degrees produces more females. But incubating at a higher temperature for females has a price: deformities, especially of the shell, and lower hatch rates.

If anyone knows if birds can be temperature sexed like this, I'd love to hear more...

 

[charlieschickens]

I have always heard that eggs from the warmer months tend to produce more males. I have also seen this in naturally hatched broods.

 

[sydney13]

i have some pigeon grit so i guess ill try that

 

[Chris09]

I have all was lined my brooders with builders sand and the chicks scratch and pick at it and only had one chick out of a hundred hatched last year that had pasty but..


Chris

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I hatch all year around and have never gotten more hens than roos! Maybe I am not doing it right.

My Silkies and Cochins (standard and bantam) hatch a lot of chicks and they take them outside in the dirt when they are a day or two old. They show them what grass is good and what dirt is good but I still find one in about every bunch that has pasty butt. Maybe that isn't the kid that is listening to mama.

I have never had any trouble sexing my Cochins from 2-3 wks old. Those combs are very obvious on boys and girls are practically non existent at that age. The ones I tag boys always are boys. Very seldom have I had a boy pop up from the girl group.

I may lower the temp on one of my 'bators and see what happens. Goodness knows I could go for more pullets!

 

[TK Poultry]

I dont know I bought 4 straight run ameraucana chicks hatched in January I believe maybe Feb but anyway they all turned out to be girls so who knows!

 

[SeaHen]

I wrote about my experience a few months ago and now feel validated. I had 3 banty cochin hens hatch out 3 clutches of eggs last fall, and of the 15 resulting chicks 15 were pullets! In the past, during spring and summer hatches, the roo-to-hen ratio was probably 2:1. The only variable was the climate, so now it all begins to make sense. We got 11 surprise chicks from my cochin X BO hen in March, and I still can't tell their sexes yet but suspect there are several cockerels in the bunch

Oh, I just read your suggestion about the colored cardboard trick to sex chicks. I'll go out and give it a try, thanx!