Is it possible to tell between eggs that contain hen and roosters before you incubate them?

[HHandbasket]

I keep forgetting there's no "edit button"..

I set 18 marans (they were shipped eggs.. so I have pulled 5 though there are 2 more that look infertile) and 24 eggs from my mutt Roo .. (all are pullet eggs and only two of them weren't fertilized)

The edit button is the little pencil in the bottom left hand corner of your text box, just next to the red flag.


ETA: Many "old farmers" think they can tell ahead of time which ones are hens and which ones are roos. At the end of the day, however, that is little more than an old wives' tale. Can't be done. As another poster said, some of them you can barely tell if they're a boy or girl AFTER they hatch even! LOL! Good luck & have fun hatching.

 

[yinepu]

The edit button is the little pencil in the bottom left hand corner of your text box, just next to the red flag.


ETA: Many "old farmers" think they can tell ahead of time which ones are hens and which ones are roos. At the end of the day, however, that is little more than an old wives' tale. Can't be done. As another poster said, some of them you can barely tell if they're a boy or girl AFTER they hatch even! LOL! Good luck & have fun hatching.

SO THAT'S where they hid that button.. lol.. as they say if it was a bear it would have bit me!

I have a few easter eggers that I'm still not sure on... just as soon as I think they are Roos in drag they surprise me by squatting!

 

[debs_flock]

The edit button is the little pencil in the bottom left hand corner of your text box, just next to the red flag.


ETA: Many "old farmers" think they can tell ahead of time which ones are hens and which ones are roos. At the end of the day, however, that is little more than an old wives' tale. Can't be done. As another poster said, some of them you can barely tell if they're a boy or girl AFTER they hatch even! LOL! Good luck & have fun hatching.

Old farmers come up with a lot of things. I recently met an "old farmer" of 80. We were discussing my animals and he gave me two pearls of wisdom. I smiled, thanked him and moved on in the conversation.
1) To pluck a chicken, kill them by pushing a sharp knife into the roof of their mouth (basically pithing them like my old high school biology days) and every feather will just wipe off them with a rag. (If only it were that easy).
2) If you have a dog that keeps running away, chop off it's tail with a hatchet. Nail the tail onto the wall of your barn and the dog will never leave again. (Did it bleed to death?)

Anyway, no I don't believe you can sex a chick by the shape of the egg from which it emerged. As said above, hens will mostly lay the same shaped egg every day.

And the edit button seems to have disappeared from the text box, at least on my screen. (Never mind, it's back)

(Hi Jerrilyn)

Deb

 

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not sure if you can tell the difference but I'm pretty sure one of my hens lays different shaped and different sized eggs. some will just fit in the carton others the egg carton will almost not fit over.

 

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How do you get the rosters not to fight?

Clairemcc1,

Sadly, No. You cannot tell once so ever that its going to be a hen or a rooster prior to putting them in the incubator and or doing incubation. The only way to tell is once they are hatched, if you are experienced at sexing day old chicks you can tell if they are going to be a rooster or a pullet.

If this was the case at our hatchery we would be able to just hatch hens but that's not the case. If we want 10 hens we have to put in about 30 eggs to get a good ratio of pullets to roosters. At our hatchery we do not throw away roosters into bins like commercial hatcheries. We have many outlets to finding the roosters a home or we allow them to roam on our farm. There is a way to introduce roosters together so they do not fight. This all comes with experience and trial and error.

Hatching eggs you are always at a high risk of getting more roosters than pullets, so be prepare for that to happen.

I hope this answers any of your questions. We have some great resources on our website you are more than welcome to go to our website and read about poultry. www.Domanifarm.com

Have a great day!

 

[AJ Farms]

Tylerkaz,

If you have two kennel dog crates, you stick the one rooster in one and the other in another dog crate. They have to be completely open. Not those plastic ones that they cant see one another. You put them directly in front of each other inside the dog crates. They will try to fight with one another but they cannot harm one another. After about 15-20 mins you go back and check on them. If their done fighting their they are pretty much fine. After that you let them out.

Its best with two people because you both have some sort of stick, and when they start fighting again you separate them and tap them NOT HARD on the head who ever is starting it. One will run away and the other one will go about their business.

You will still have one rooster chase the other one every now and then to show who rules the roost. Like when you go and feed them or when there is a hen around that the other one wants.
Other wise its pretty much over, its not as nearly as bad as just throwing the two in to fight.

That's what we have done with alot of our roosters. Now they all stay in with one another.

When we raise our meat birds for meat we raise them all together so 150 of them together they don't fight at all cause they were raised together.

Im not saying that this will completely solve it but its worked 100% for us. and we've been doing it for many years.

How do you get the rosters not to fight?

 

[Melissa Rose]

I just hatched out a nice little clutch of Orpingtons Lemon Cuckoos Lavendars and Blues and I think I ended up with rooster yahtzee

. Designer nuggets

!!! I was reading on another thread that to sex them after they hatch you gently pick them up by the neck with three fingers and if they kick their feet they are one and if they dangle limp they are another but half the people said kicking was a roo and the other half said the danglers were the roos. i think I'll just keep checking their cute little fuzzy butts for tail feathers

 

[aoxa]

Egg shape its self has nothing to do with sex. It can effect hatch rate though.
The thing about egg shape is that a hen usually lays the same shape egg every day. You may have a hen that is laying pointy eggs an one that is laying round eggs. But for the most part both should hatch about 50% girls.

Now some hens hatch mostly girls an others hatch mostly boys. So when you put these together you can get more or less girls by hatching only one hens (one shape) eggs.

x2! I have a hen that lays nearly completely round eggs. I can't imaging it determining the gender of her offspring.

 

[yinepu]

I'm sitting here laughing my behind off.. and here's why

2 chicks have hatched so far...
one "rounded" egg and one "pointed egg"

so far I have one pullet (from the rounded egg) and one little roo (from the pointed egg)..

I know it's just a coincidence .. but it's still funny!


and yup.. with my mutt eggs I can tell the boys from the girls day one.. which is another reason I love our roo Jack!

still more eggs to go.. bet the coincidence won't last!

 

[chloezoebob101]

I just hatched out a nice little clutch of Orpingtons Lemon Cuckoos Lavendars and Blues and I think I ended up with rooster yahtzee

. Designer nuggets

!!! I was reading on another thread that to sex them after they hatch you gently pick them up by the neck with three fingers and if they kick their feet they are one and if they dangle limp they are another but half the people said kicking was a roo and the other half said the danglers were the roos. i think I'll just keep checking their cute little fuzzy butts for tail feathers

checking their butts for tail feathers, is that how you can tell? because i ave a hard time telling until they are pretty much 9 weeks old. even then i get some wrong.