Pullet vs. cockerel x4

[enola]

The gender ratio is generally highly dependent on nutrition especially iodine so chances are the parents ran low on it before the breedings which produced all males, since that's generally the main cause, whatever the livestock species. Another potential and common cause is overly young parents being bred, but that still is more likely to produce females among the clutch than very low iodine levels.

Best wishes.

Can you explain this statement? I have never heard sex of animal young being determined by nutrition.

 

[chooks4life]

Can you explain this statement? I have never heard sex of animal young being determined by nutrition.

I LOL'd at sourland's 'ovation' message in response to this question --- 'nor has anyone else' --- you know, a simple, quick Google search would have saved you from making this incorrect statement.

This is actually common knowledge, so if everyone you know has never heard of this you need to do some research and not just rely on your friends to educate you.

This is simply an old and proven fact. It's actually one of the reasons why many breeds of white domestic animals hail from nutrient poor areas; it's also one of the reasons darker animals contain more (and need more) of several nutrients (copper, sulfur, iodine etc) than white ones. Recently some pheasant breeders on this forum dismissed my statement that nutrition has a lot to do with coloring of the animals --- I asked them to look it up, they did, and promptly dropped the topic, not another word said. Just goes to show, you can't assume anyone knows what one would expect is common knowledge, even though it's freely available online, in libraries, in bookstores, etc, and has been for longer than any of us have been alive. This is not controversial nor theoretical, this is undisputed proven fact.

Look it up, I urge you, the keywords are right there; I find it an endlessly fascinating topic myself. You really, really need to look into nutrition in general and the massive impact it has on your land, and your animals (and yourself too, that's something invaluable you'll learn about along the way).

Best wishes with your pursuit of furthering your education.

 

[mebberry4]

If Bay is NH X BR - he would be barred like his moma.

Sorry, your hatching luck this summer was as bad as mine

Yeah, I was really hoping that bay was a black sex link of sorts and the fact that it hatched out all black with no white markings meant female.

I think Chooks4life is right, only time will truly tell on this one.... Sounds like everyone is having bad hatch luck this summer.
Maybe I will wait a bit longer to separate Bay out from the rest, in case it turns out to be a pullet after all.
Thanks!