Interesting observation about chick genders

[Feath3rDust3r]

Hello.

I've been incubating and hatching chicks all winter. I usually start around April/may, but I decided to get a head start this year so id have layers by spring. When I hatch chicks in the spring the temperature for collecting eggs is about perfect...I keep the eggs in my garage until I get enough to start a batch in the incubator. Usually around this time of year I get about 50/50 roos to hens.

By July/Aug my garage is pretty hot so I keep the eggs in the kitchen which is about 68-70 degrees. The chicks I hatch at this time have tended to be about 60% male....

Now here's the interesting part ...from the same set of birds I have hatched 47 chicks since October. It's been extremely cold and my garage is probably only just above freezing, not to mention the fact that I'm loosing a lot of eggs in the coop due to them splitting open.

Of the 47 chicks hatched I have 2...yes 2 males!!!! Here's the thing...my hatch rate is only about 50%

I saw a post a few months back on something similar where someone put eggs in the fridge.

Some people think that the male sperm survives better in heat than female and the female survives better at cold temperatures. I don't know what it is but it's definitely interesting!

 

[Silkies and succulents]

I’ve heard something like that too. I raised turtles for a wildlife preservation thing a few years ago, and we we guessing what gender they were based of of the temperature when they hatched.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

The problem is that birds are not reptiles, so you can't just expect them to follow that logic 100% of the time

 

[als77]

Are you hatch-rates in April/May and July/Aug the same? If you have better hatch-rates in April/May that should support the idea.

 

[Feath3rDust3r]

Are you hatch-rates in April/May and July/Aug the same? If you have better hatch-rates in April/May that should support the idea.

In April/May I had about 90% hatch rate...and then in July//Aug it was about 70%.

I actually thought the drop in success was due to my incubator so I bought a new one... but through the winter the hatch rates are only about 50%. The eggs do start to develop but they don't get much past 8 days. It will be interesting to see if the rates get better again in the spring

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I read something about that somewhere...

 

[als77]

In April/May I had about 90% hatch rate...and then in July//Aug it was about 70%.

I actually thought the drop in success was due to my incubator so I bought a new one... but through the winter the hatch rates are only about 50%. The eggs do start to develop but they don't get much past 8 days. It will be interesting to see if the rates get better again in the spring

Seems to support the idea then

Someone could take the initiative to gather information from other people's hatches on this forum with regards to season, hatch-rate and M/F-distribution. Could give a lot of data to support og debunk the idea

 

[SegiDream]

Interesting reads on the topic:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/drop-temperature-can-change-sex-chickens-1238516.html

https://www.mypetchicken.com/backya...incubate-eggs-that-will-hatch-female-H99.aspx

 

[PioneerChicks]

A reptile's gender is determined by the heat of the nest it is incubated in. But chickens are birds.

I will be interested to see how this goes! I will have chicks hatching over this weekend, but I will only be keeping half. It is unlikely that I will keep all of the chicks from any of my hatches this year, but I'll do what I can to help!

 

[SegiDream]

A reptile's gender is determined by the heat of the nest it is incubated in. But chickens are birds.

Yes but birds are closely related to reptiles. I think temperature plays a role in the hatch ratio, just not as concretely or as well understood as say an alligator or turtle.