Sexing eggs!

[BillJ]

keep us posted!

Day 16 of my 6 eggs.

So, I started adding granulated soybean lecithin around egg three or four. I waited until I had 10 eggs and choose those I thougth would most likely be female. I had to take one I thought might be a roo by ratio and weight but I was anxious to get started.

Of the first six eggs I collected half had ratios and weight I would take to be male and half female. The one laying hen, old as she is, has laid 20 eggs now since I have been recording the weight and ratio. Less those first 6 which saw no lecithin in her water, the last 14, using the same standard as the first 6, I see 2 that seem to have weight and ratios of males and 12 that seem female. The eggs are more uniform and generally lighter.

Ratio wise, I picked for the six I'm incubating, length/width=<1.467 except for one which is 1.51. The ratios now tend toward 1.42 and lighter.

Either the granulated soybean lecithin added to water or milk is shifting the male/female ratio way over to females or she's just older, seeing the warmer weather and eating less and the ratios change for the lighter eggs is a function of egg size and doesn't change in a linear way as the weight goes up.

But if I ever hatch eggs again after this, the birds will get lecithin starting a week before I start collecting eggs. It just seems like a good bet to get hens.

 

[Amiti]

My hens dont seem to want to go broody, but i found someone with an incubator who will hatch them for halvsies. We plan to attempt hatching 2 dozen. One dozen with the smallest length/width difference. And one dozen with the smallest difference between top and bottom measured at 1/4 inch. Some of the second category arent fat but are very hard to tell top from bottom. We will be setting eggs around the begining of June.

 

[BradnerGirl]

Fantastic! I am so happy that we seem to be getting the same results. I suspect that the reason the hatcheries dont use this method is because its not 100% and takes a lot of work sorting eggs and finding suitable hens. Its probably easier to just cull the sex-linked males. I am buying my eggs in but I get the luxury of hand selecting so i can pick the roundest ones.

You are also a lot more patient with the nay-sayers and the debate starters than I am too!

I know this is an old post. There were are too many posts to go through and never did find where the results were posted...so I thought I'd cheat and go to the source. How did/is your experiment turning out. I have just learned about this theory and want to try it on my next hatch. The eggs I currently have in the incubator are more pointy on one end than ovals. I'm thinking I'm going to get several roos ...We'll see, I'm in on this experiment too.

 

[chickengr]

I know this is an old post. There were are too many posts to go through and never did find where the results were posted...so I thought I'd cheat and go to the source. How did/is your experiment turning out. I have just learned about this theory and want to try it on my next hatch. The eggs I currently have in the incubator are more pointy on one end than ovals. I'm thinking I'm going to get several roos ...We'll see, I'm in on this experiment too.

my results are:2 pointy eggs (but less pointy) from 2 hens who lay all pointy eggs - 2 girls. from the other hen that layed all round eggs - 2 boys and 1 girl. there was another chick, but died at 10 days. looked like boy.

 

[josy]

My first hatch I paid attention to the egg shape and it was about half and half (rounded to pointy) and that's exactly what I got 10 girls 10 boys. At first I thought the egg shape thing must be wrong because feather sexing showed way more girls but that turned out to be false. A couple eggs that were very rounded I was able to keep track of as I had several different breeds in the batch and they were in fact hens.
As soon as a hen gets broody I will select only rounded eggs and see what I get. I will pay attention to individual hen egg shapes to help me pick the roundest.
I have noticed that a lot of skeptics seem to think that hatcheries would be doing this if it worked. I don't agree. They would have to hire more people to select eggs as well as the vent sexers they already employ as it will never be 100% accurate by egg shape alone. Also the male chicks do not cost them money, they become fertilizer which they sell. Also I think this method is more likely to work for the small breeder that knows thier individual hens laying habits and the variances. That's just my two cents. I will post the results of my next hatch.

 

[6 littleHens]

One of my proven porcelain silkie hen's, after three years started having male characteristics! She stayed by herself for weeks then she started dancing around the other females and acting differently towards me. She used to run to me and want me to pick her up and she stopped all of that. At the same time I released 7 baby ducks into the flock. 4 of those were drakes. I had only a very young cockerel silkie at the time. Since he has grown she has stopped the dancing but still runs with the ducks and hangs out. She has not layed an egg since this all started. The cockerel does not do the dance for her or try to mount her. He has all other female silkies but not her. I know she will someday return to normal and wonder how far this would have gone (would she crow and mount others) if I had had no cockerels.
I have read that this has happened in other people's flocks but had never personally seen it. I know the hen determines the sex but can that sex change if needed for the flock. For instance adding unsexed ducklings that were mostly male to a flock without a hormonal cockerel on board.
So, if that is possible can the egg sex change? I have also read something on that a couple years ago. The article said there was a small window during the incubation that if temp changes it can possibly change the sex of the eggs. I really cant remember where I read this or the specifics. Anyways, I also noticed during this same time that out of 6 eggs hatched in that flock by those hens 5 are looking like boys!
How to use this? Play tape recording of millions of roos crowing in their nest boxes, lol.

 

[junebuggena]

Hens can stop laying and become more masculine, but it has nothing to do with 'changing' sex. It's usually caused by some sort of issue with the functioning ovary. Either infection, tumors, or cancer can permanently damage the functioning ovary. The result is a hen that stops laying and physically starts resemble a rooster. She is still genetically female, and is not capable of reproduction.

 

[Rod-T]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...e-gruesome-deaths-of-millions-of-male-chicks/

 

[Rod-T]

Sexing fresh eggs. No incubation

 

[Snow bunny]

Thank you for posting that link. It is very informative and positive. Although I am an Aussie, once again America leads the way.