Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Fire Ant Farm]

I've heard that pullets are more likely when the hen is well fed and in good health, as a proxy for availability of resources for the future chicken (with a laying female taking more resources than a male).

However, when I hatched eggs from by three cream leg bar pullets, I had all boys from the healthiest, half boys half girls from the one with ocular Mareks, and 5 girls and only 1 boy from one that died less than a month later from Mareks, emaciated and riddled with tumors (in retrospect, this was happening at the time I collected eggs). I couldn't reconcile that with what I had heard, so I don't know...

- Ant Farm

 

[draye]

What is it?

I forget the exact details...  someone told me they think the first eggs of the season tend to throw cockerels, with mid/later season eggs throwing pullets. Kind of seemed that way this year..

The pullet skew in the batch I can sex pretty well is very strong- example, one cockerel out of 7 whites,  not sure if any barred cockerel out of 10 barreds,  maybe two cockerel out of 10 from a pen etc.

I really don't think it will work, but I had togive it a try anyway. Witching the eggs ( pendulum) above the eggs, circle is a Pullet and back/ forth a cockerel. Reason Isuzu witch them before you set them, 96 out of 133 eggs were all that ere fertile do how can it relegated it is if it's not even fertile? But me I had to try it anyway.

There are all kinds of ways people will tell you how tobetter your odds for pullets.

There is one that the pointier eggs are cockerels and the rounded eggs are pullets. My chickens lay the same kind of egg every time there might be just a slight difference but it is really hard to tell anyway.

 

[Kev]

I've heard that pullets are more likely when the hen is well fed and in good health, as a proxy for availability of resources for the future chicken (with a laying female taking more resources than a male).

However, when I hatched eggs from by three cream leg bar pullets, I had all boys from the healthiest, half boys half girls from the one with ocular Mareks, and 5 girls and only 1 boy from one that died less than a month later from Mareks, emaciated and riddled with tumors (in retrospect, this was happening at the time I collected eggs). I couldn't reconcile that with what I had heard, so I don't know...

- Ant Farm

I do have in mind the studies done with.. think it was zebra finches? Maybe canaries also..? which gave evidence the females were able to lay larger eggs for male embryos if they were bred by a male they considered very desirable/better. One way they did it was having the female paired with a 'low quality male', measured her eggs sired by this male.. and measured eggs after the female was 'allowed' by the experimenters to have an affair with a handsome male... egg size increased after that. They think it was the female putting in more investment for a 'better quality' offspring...

I have no idea if there have been studies on chickens along this line or if pullet/older hens are capable of having some influence over the sex of their offspring, either deliberately or not so directly via her health. Just because a certain species shows the ability to does not mean others have the same ability.... fun to look at the chicks and ponder about it though.

 

[draye]

75 hatched out if 96 fertile eggs.

Just a few of them.

 

[Kev]

I really don't think it will work, but I had togive it a try anyway. Witching the eggs ( pendulum) above the eggs, circle is a Pullet and back/ forth a cockerel. Reason Isuzu witch them before you set them, 96 out of 133 eggs were all that ere fertile do how can it relegated it is if it's not even fertile? But me I had to try it anyway.

There are all kinds of ways people will tell you how tobetter your odds for pullets.

There is one that the pointier eggs are cockerels and the rounded eggs are pullets. My chickens lay the same kind of egg every time there might be just a slight difference but it is really hard to tell anyway.

Thanks. Did you set only the eggs witched as pullet or...?

 

[Skink]

I do have in mind the studies done with.. think it was zebra finches? Maybe canaries also..? which gave evidence the females were able to lay larger eggs for male embryos if they were bred by a male they considered very desirable/better. One way they did it was having the female paired with a 'low quality male', measured her eggs sired by this male.. and measured eggs after the female was 'allowed' by the experimenters to have an affair with a handsome male... egg size increased after that. They think it was the female putting in more investment for a 'better quality' offspring...

I have no idea if there have been studies on chickens along this line or if pullet/older hens are capable of having some influence over the sex of their offspring, either deliberately or not so directly via her health. Just because a certain species shows the ability to does not mean others have the same ability.... fun to look at the chicks and ponder about it though.

That sounds like a really awesome form of female sexual selection! I wouldn't expect something similar in chickens, personally. Their sexual selection is a lot different. There is the whole Dominant Male vs. Satellite Males bit that takes care of a lot of the evaluation of a suitor, but then a hen has an additional layer of say (the final say at that) by just being able to simply reject ejaculate from a male she's not fond of. I would think this would dissuade any effect on the sexes and rather become a battle of fertility. With the way chickens operate, any sex selection based on fitness would probably lead to something of an arm's race, with hen's genes wanting to have stronger sons that carry half her genetics and rooster's genes not wanting to sire the son that will be his downfall. I'd also imagine any sex affecting behavior would be relatively clear already, considering the amount of money poured in to researching chickens specifically and how any way to encourage more eggs laid carrying specifically female embryos would be incredibly lucrative. Regardless it is interesting to think about!

 

[Skink]

75 hatched out if 96 fertile eggs.



Just a few of them.

Aaa! I always love chipmunk stripe chicks! Very cute

 

[draye]

Thanks. Did you set only the eggs witched as pullet or...?

I set a very limited number of cockerel eggs as I was wanting to see if it actually came out.

I have it written down just have to locate my notes.

 

[DesertChic]

It was weights, measures and photo day! I thought I'd share some pics of my 10-week old NNs, including little Rue, who's healed beautifully. I love that she appears to be pure black so far, meaning I may be able to show her at the next poultry show, and her growth rate is now only 2 weeks behind the others despite spending a full month healing. Her recent growth spurt has been impressive!

Ladies first!

Rue - pure NN


Gypsy - Bielefelder/NN


Willow - NN/White Rock

 

[DesertChic]

And now the boys:


Simon - NN/White Rock


Finnig - NN/Cochin (feathered shanks)



Peta - NN/NN-Cochin (feathered shanks)