straight run, really? rant...

[tritty74]

I can truly understand your frustration and disappointment. I think that it s no different than say humans having babies there are no gaurantees. Some people get one of each others don't. We have 5 children and all of them ended up being boys (roos). It is just the luck of the draw.

 

[manybirds]

Quote:
my mom had 6 girls (hens)

unfortunatly they ended up hatching to many eggs that my mom had to brood

I always thought after raising 6 pullets and not particularly wanting chicks (not that she was a bad mom or wished she hadn't had us) she had raised enough for a life time. apparently my brood mates thought otherwise

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

The 50/50 ratio is based on 100 chicks. If you only order a handful of chicks your numbers can go either way. Doesn’t mean someone is trying to cheat you out of pullets. When we sell chicks we reach into the hatcher and pull out the number you ordered. Late hatches and extras get put in the brooder. We cull out our birds (sent to the swaps) as they show faults and at different ages. Come fall after we select our birds we sell the extras that made the cullings. If someone is selling a trio maybe they culled more of the roosters early on???? There is always another side to a story.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

We hatched about 5-6 times this year in mostly small batches of 6-12 or so. I think we are running about 75 % roos in EVERY batch. Thank heaven we did that many batches so we have enough hens to choose which to keep.
If the hen does the choosing, I admit I was very selective of the hen mama, so it may be my fault.
After years of breeding dairy cattle, I can say: some years it's all girls and some years you can't find any girls. it evens out over a decade or so.
I always said if I could bottle what made my kids come out roo/hen/roo/hen/roo/hen, I'd be rich rich rich... in cash as well as wonderful kids!!!
Once I figure out how to successfully hatch marans in a bator, I will attempt to figure out which hen not only produces the darkest eggs but also the most pullets

 

[chickmashnoon]

Hahahaha! Anybody in central illinois and wanna trade? I have a small setup and ordered 10 chicks, got 2 mysteries thrown in, and they ALL turned out to be HENS! after reading about most people having the opposite problem, i just assumed there would be a few roos for the freezer. I feel mighty bad eating hen, and my ladies need a man. but I only have so much space for chickens over the winter, so some of my girls are gonna have to go

Any of you in illinois? I'll trade an EE hen for an EE roo. They are just hatchery grade, but still pretty.

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
Breeders do it, too. I had met a breeder that had a particular breed I was interested in. I couldn't get any of her eggs to hatch, so she gave me all together 4 straight run chicks.... I know she sells pairs/trios, too.... all 4 straight run chicks were boys. Two died within the first month. The other two are in my yard and are for sale.

 

[coz74]

Quote:
If you lived closer I could help out, when I ordered 25 straight run heavies (seems to be very lopsided roo), I also ordered 4 EE pullets. I recieved 2 mystery chicks- both EE roos.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Mrs. Turbo :

The 50/50 ratio is based on 100 chicks. If you only order a handful of chicks your numbers can go either way. Doesn’t mean someone is trying to cheat you out of pullets. When we sell chicks we reach into the hatcher and pull out the number you ordered. Late hatches and extras get put in the brooder. We cull out our birds (sent to the swaps) as they show faults and at different ages. Come fall after we select our birds we sell the extras that made the cullings. If someone is selling a trio maybe they culled more of the roosters early on???? There is always another side to a story.

very well said Mrs. Turbo.

Folks you have to realise when you buy straight run, it's just that, the luck of the draw. If you want 10 pullets and 2 roos, why not spend the extra 25 cents and have them sexed that way. If it's a breed they dont offer sexing on, then you have no argument over them cheating you, because they'd have no reason to.
Most all breeders do NOT sell sexed chicks. For those saying that they sell pairs and trios also, well is that day olds or is that 1/2 grown birds. If it is day olds, again, why didnt you just buy sexed birds then?

I sell pairs and trios too as well as day old chicks. The breeds I work with, there's no way at all to sex them, so they all go out SR.
3-4 months down the road, yes anyone can sex them then. It's kinda hard to accuse someone of doing wrong, IF you have the oportunity to buy what you want to start with.
By taking straight run birds, you are gambeling just as you would be on hatching eggs.

In short, you get what you pay for
eggs = cheapest route highest gamble
st Run chicks= 2cd cheapest route moderate gamble
sexed chicks= 3rd cheapest route, gamble only in getting them raised
sexed adult or started birds= most expensive no gamble at all

so if you are going to be mad for taking the cheaper route with the highest gamble, it's just like Vegas, no one made you do it.
and if you had the oportunity to buy sexed birds and didnt, there's really no one to blame there.

NOW BEFORE YALL GET ALL UP IN ARMS.

I know there are shady folks in both hatcheries and private sells (I wont call them breeders because they arent) So this can and does happen. So research your supplier,know their reputaion, know the risk involved. Never assume staright run means it's going to work out in your favor. Some times it does, but usually hatches over all are 50/50 just depends on what handful were grabbed up for your order. By all means, if they offer sexed birds and you want a certain amount of each sex, pay the extra few cent and get sexed.
And remember, there no one but God who knows what ratio the sex is going to be on hatched eggs. That all depends on what sex chromosomes were inherited when the egg was fertilized. I often get hatches that swing heavy one way or the other, it's common.

Get a few years of your own hatching under your belt and you see what I mean. Batch A will be 50/50, then the next week, eggs from the same pen may be most all hens or vice versa.

So yes, it happens with no ill intent meant, but the seller always seems to get accused of being shady. Some are, but I assure you 99.9% of the time, it's really just odds and luck of the draw.​

 

[klf73]

I get that. My complaint was that I was buying straight run and got at least 75% cockerals...and I know that happens, heck I hatched 85% cockerals from my birds this year. The breeder was selling trios of birds the same age as mine, seems like they picked through before sending mine...

I do order sexed birds when they are from the hatchery(if the need arises, which only really happened for polish and my ducks).

 

[NYREDS]

Assuming that a small batch of straight run chicks will always be 50-50 is delusional thinking. Hatch 10,000 & you should get about 5,000 of each sex. Hatch 10 & you may get 10 cockerels or 10 pullets.
When I first got Rhode Island Red Bantams I started with 3 dozen eggs. They hatched very well: 33 of 36 hatched, 29 cockerels & 4 pullets.
Going through life thinking the worst of everyone can't be much fun.