Sexing eggs!

[CherriesBrood]

Hmm, I just read the first post, very interesting! You know I think your right! I hatched all same eggs from one chicken and she lays pointy eggs, and sure enough they all turned out to be boys! I didn't get a single girl! This is very interesting and a good tip! I'm definitely going to use this for my next hatch! Wow! Just wow! Thats amazing!

 

[dwmills]

Interesting theory and I wonder how it applies to my hens. Each of my hens lay eggs which are very unique from each other. One, for example, a Brown Leghorn, always lays sausage shaped eggs.....always. Another lays "golf balls"....always! And so on. If the theory were correct then I should assume that each hen lays eggs of only one sex because each hens' eggs rarely vary in shape. As a Biologist I have a difficult time accepting that one hen lays only eggs of one sex.

I will follow this with interest.

 

[Snow bunny]

I have left all round eggs with my girls and I got all hens. Pointy eggs are roosters. I have different breeds of chooks and I get the same results each time.

 

[RorieRiveter]

I have observed, over the course of several hatches in my Rcom egg shaped fully transparent rotating incubator, that medium eggs relative to larger eggs reliably produce more female chicks.

In my first hatching the female to male ratio of hatched chicks was 50%. Eggs were randomly selected based on color diversity. I maintain a diverse flock for the sake of diverse eggs, which sell out quickly at the local Framer's Market, marketed as "Rainbow Eggs." We keep white, brown, dark brown, tan, rose, green, blue, and olive layers in our flock.

I found that the first eggs to hatch from eggs all laid and collected on the same day tended to be the larger eggs, and they resulted in male birds. I related this story to a biologist friend who also keeps hens, and she remarked about how testosterone is even active in the gestational period, which stands to reason. It was as if the male chicks had stronger foot thrusts and were able to kick off their shells faster. Smaller eggs in the incubator took longer to hatch, even if they started rocking earlier than the larger eggs. The smaller eggs tended to yield female chicks.

So I began selecting smaller eggs to put in the incubator, desiring more female chicks. It's a ten egg incubator, so it's easy for me to keep track of position with the slots numbered on the rotating disk. Sure enough, my female to male ratio of hatched chicks increased by selecting medium sized eggs. With this selection method I now average one or two cockerels to six to eight pullets per hatch. I have not selected for the smallest eggs, assuming there may be some reason for the smaller size, some possible deficiency, and not wanting unhatched eggs or physically challenged chicks. This is just an assumption on my part, I have no real basis of proof regarding the smallest eggs and their viability.

This is purely anecdotal information, although it works for me. I'm simply a novice chicken husband, and it occurs to me that if my method were reliable it would be well known and used for thousands of years with breeders of egg layers. Although perhaps the information was somehow lost along the way, hard to say.

I won't be incubating again for several months, although I will keep pointy eggs v. round eggs in mind. I'll try selecting round, medium sized eggs for incubation, with a goal of 100% female chicks in my hatches. There's bound to be a random cockerel hatched from time to time, and I find that a ratio of twelve hens to one rooster is ideal for meeting their reproductive needs.

 

[arkwelded]

i do not think egg sexing is possible. we can tell what chickens lay what eggs in our flock. the size, color, shape, and even dimples on the eggs are the same day after day. we have also had some of these traits of our hens eggs passed to their offspring, which debunks this whole theory as the offspring of that hen would have all been roosters.

 

[Gr8dayncindy]

No, I didn't mean to tear you down. I think it would be a fun thread, although I have my suspicions about the results. I will be setting 24 polish eggs next Wednesday, and all of those will be pointy, so I can give my results in a couple of months. I don't think anyone was being overly critical of you. I am a skeptic, and I challenge the other skeptics to accept the challenge

post side pictures so we can ser if there odds any difference in how pointed at all. It might be slight.

 

[Gr8dayncindy]

I would love to see all the results, very fun experiment.

 

[greylock]

I also have hens that always lay pointed eggs. This is how I tell if they laid that day or not.

 

[greylock]

I will have to try this. Interesting. I hatched 7 large eggs and out of that got 1....only ONE hen!!!! I will have to try smaller eggs.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Why smaller eggs?

That shouldn't have anything to do with sex. Only about the amount of space and available nutrition in the egg.