Sexing eggs!

[lazy gardener]

Keep those stats coming in. Of course it's helpful in a mixed set to somehow segregate the shapes and mark the chicks/ducklings so you can correlate gender/egg shape as they start declaring themselves. But, with my hatches this year, I got too caught up in the moment to match egg with chick. Hopefully, I can be a bit more analytical this spring.

 

[rossfam06]

So I set 4 eggs from my personal flock CLB/EE crosses and 2 were pointy and 2 were round. All 4 hatched yesterday and I marked with pink and blue bands. I also hatched out 3/4 project eggs from a friend 3 of which were pointy and one round. Marked them also. I will let you know how they progress compared to the round vs pointy!!!!

 

[daxigait]

So I set 4 eggs from my personal flock CLB/EE crosses and 2 were pointy and 2 were round. All 4 hatched yesterday and I marked with pink and blue bands. I also hatched out 3/4 project eggs from a friend 3 of which were pointy and one round. Marked them also. I will let you know how they progress compared to the round vs pointy!!!!

I am glad they all hatched. I will look forward to your results.
I am going to put my Barred rock hens in witg Lavender Orpingtons in the spring then I can try this with black sexlinks to make a quick test.
Do most of you eyeball this or do you measure. I am getting ready to try my first hatch for New Years, but everyone is together right now is the main coop and run do it will be bym.

 

[lazy gardener]

I eyeball. If I can tell who laid which eggs, I like to separate those eggs out, and choose the roundest from that group. If I have no idea, I still try to match eggs up by color or other identifiers, then choose from each group. If all eggs are similar, as in a group of hens of all one breed, then you would just have to go by shape only.

 

[daxigait]

Thanks. I have a few that lay distinct eggs, but most will have to be by breeds.

 

[LilChickens2]

Great thread! I plan on trying this in January.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I hatched out the roundest egg ever, it was a roo. I have a round egg I just put in, if it is female, I don't think it would prove a thing.

My round egg is the littlest blue one.

 

[KirstieJG]

Well there seems to be more positive experience than negative which is interesting from a scientific trial point of view lol.

 

[lindalouly]

My eggs hatched and I have eight birds to wait and see. The eggs I hatched were selected by being grouped by color then picking the most round and not overly big eggs out of the group. Will let you know my results when they age a bit.

 

[lazy gardener]

I hatched out the roundest egg ever, it was a roo. I have a round egg I just put in, if it is female, I don't think it would prove a thing.

My round egg is the littlest blue one.

Yes, you are correct. Looking at a single egg, and comparing it to a single egg in the next hatch, certainly don't prove a lot. I think what we're looking at is a trending towards increased percentage of female pullets resulting from a hatch in which all of the eggs are shape selected. Thanks for the input. Your results certainly support the idea that this is not an exact science!

My eggs hatched and I have eight birds to wait and see. The eggs I hatched were selected by being grouped by color then picking the most round and not overly big eggs out of the group. Will let you know my results when they age a bit.

Which is exactly how I selected my eggs. 3 hatches to date all averaging 60% pullets, where previous hatches resulted in 40% pullets.