Sexing eggs!

[chickengr]

Soooo, it has been 18 days since my confusing clutch has hatched and it looks like I may have a few pullets! At least I hope so!! There are some definitely larger, pinkening combs, and there are still a few (just a few) who's combs are staying small with no pinkening yet. My fingers AND toes are permanently crossed!!
I tell ya, trying to get a decent picture of all of them is hilarious!!
Tell me what you think....

2 boys in the middle, I guess.

 

[melnjerm]

Looks to me like whoever bred these chicks, wasn't careful about selecting for autosexing.

If any of these end up being pullets, I totally agree! So far, even the feather coloring is the same on all 10. I pray this isn't the case to the point of lay! These babies need to start finding their new homes!

 

[hotmessJess]

Well this was quite a read!

I don't even care if it sounds a little like a mix of witchcraft and wishful thinking, I'm going to try to only set rounded eggs this year.

Last year, I got a crazy 4 pullets to 15 cockerel hatch! I'm not good with the necessary parts of hatching too many roosters, so I'm trying to not put myself in that mess again!

You all have inspired me to at least give it a go!

 

[lindalouly]

Well this was quite a read!

I don't even care if it sounds a little like a mix of witchcraft and wishful thinking, I'm going to try to only set rounded eggs this year.

Last year, I got a crazy 4 pullets to 15 cockerel hatch! I'm not good with the necessary parts of hatching too many roosters, so I'm trying to not put myself in that mess again!

You all have inspired me to at least give it a go!

My backyard mixes I hatched doing this experiment... ended at 1 roo and 8 hens.. they were born I think Dec. 5th.. gee.. my brain isn't working much.

 

[hotmessJess]

My backyard mixes I hatched doing this experiment... ended at 1 roo and 8 hens.. they were born I think Dec. 5th.. gee.. my brain isn't working much.

That sounds amazing! I felt pretty ripped off when all those combs and waddles started coming in! I just couldn't believe the odds!

I'm definitely going to give this method a try!

 

[chickendreams24]

Hey all planning to set for the Easter Hatch-a-long and would like to try this out. I don't have a scale but what information can I take to help this study along? Any help at all please

 

[jak2002003]

Sorry to tell you all but you can not tell the sex of the chicken eggs... or change the percentage of male or female hatching.

Its just random chance.

Some hatches will be mostly male, some mostly female and some 50 / 50.

I have one hen who hatched out her eggs and there are 8 roosters and 2 hens.

Another hen hatched out 4 eggs and they are all female.

Some years I have too many roosters.. other years mostly hens.

But over time it averages out 50 / 50 hens to roosters.

If there was a way to get hatch out only hens the egg farming industry would have found it by now.. with all their scientists and vets and the millions they spend on research.

 

[Lozuufy]

Sorry to tell you all but you can not tell the sex of the chicken eggs... or change the percentage of male or female hatching.

Its just random chance.

Some hatches will be mostly male, some mostly female and some 50 / 50.

I have one hen who hatched out her eggs and there are 8 roosters and 2 hens.

Another hen hatched out 4 eggs and they are all female.

Some years I have too many roosters.. other years mostly hens.

But over time it averages out 50 / 50 hens to roosters.

If there was a way to get hatch out only hens the egg farming industry would have found it by now.. with all their scientists and vets and the millions they spend on research.

True, however this "experiment" is a really good excuse for me to hatch more eggs

 

[lazy gardener]

Hey all planning to set for the Easter Hatch-a-long and would like to try this out. I don't have a scale but what information can I take to help this study along? Any help at all please

I don't think you need a set of scales to participate in this experiment. If you have access to your own eggs, join us in the experiment.

Sorry to tell you all but you can not tell the sex of the chicken eggs... or change the percentage of male or female hatching.

Its just random chance.

Some hatches will be mostly male, some mostly female and some 50 / 50.

I have one hen who hatched out her eggs and there are 8 roosters and 2 hens.

Another hen hatched out 4 eggs and they are all female.

Some years I have too many roosters.. other years mostly hens.

But over time it averages out 50 / 50 hens to roosters.

If there was a way to get hatch out only hens the egg farming industry would have found it by now.. with all their scientists and vets and the millions they spend on research.

Jak, thanks for sharing your stats. The telling data will be if you take that same hen who hatched 8/10 roos, and compare her egg shapes. Same with the hen who hatched 4/0 pullets. If you can consistently identify a specific hen's eggs, and then compare the shapes, and leg band the chicks, you'll have some telling data to proove or disproove the theory. Obviously we couldn't expect to tell for sure if an egg is male or female based on shape. I can tell you that in the past 3 years, 2 random hatches resulted in 40% pullets. 3 hatches that were set with "gender selected shape" eggs resulted CONSISTENTLY in a 60% pullet hatch. Call it hokus-pokus, random chance, old-wive's-tale. Call it what you want. I can tell you that I will continue to eat my pointed eggs, and set the rounded ones. If I end up with an extra 20% layers, I'll be happy. Will this always produce more pullets? Hard telling. That's why a growing number of us are playing around with it. However, if I can increase my odds by 20% over time, IMO that's a worth while gender improvement to strive for!

 

[chickengr]

I don't think you need a set of scales to participate in this experiment. If you have access to your own eggs, join us in the experiment.

Jak, thanks for sharing your stats. The telling data will be if you take that same hen who hatched 8/10 roos, and compare her egg shapes. Same with the hen who hatched 4/0 pullets. If you can consistently identify a specific hen's eggs, and then compare the shapes, and leg band the chicks, you'll have some telling data to proove or disproove the theory. Obviously we couldn't expect to tell for sure if an egg is male or female based on shape. I can tell you that in the past 3 years, 2 random hatches resulted in 40% pullets. 3 hatches that were set with "gender selected shape" eggs resulted CONSISTENTLY in a 60% pullet hatch. Call it hokus-pokus, random chance, old-wive's-tale. Call it what you want. I can tell you that I will continue to eat my pointed eggs, and set the rounded ones. If I end up with an extra 20% layers, I'll be happy. Will this always produce more pullets? Hard telling. That's why a growing number of us are playing around with it. However, if I can increase my odds by 20% over time, IMO that's a worth while gender improvement to strive for!

I agree with you and I hope more people will join this experiment.

I had some doubts as I have pullets who lay pointy eggs. but I chose 2 less pointy ones and got 2 girls!