The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[TeaChick]

May be totally coincidental, but my mother told me her mother used a vinegar douche for birth control and had two daughters (1926 & 1929.)

LOL
May have something to do with it.
But obviously, douche works as well as the rhythm method (my mom's method of BC in the late 70s, which produced two fat, happy, little babies: me and my brother lol)

 

[TeaChick]

Gender in humans is entirely dependent on the sperm. It's either XX or XY. XX swim slower and last longer (they don't burn up their energy so quick), XY swim faster and die off quicker. It depends on when the mother ovulates in relation to when intercourse happened.
No amount of vinegar is going to change or dictate gender. This would also apply in chickens.

Actually, the male sperm have a harder time surviving in an acidic environment.

 

[Scott H]

Quote:
I warmed up some frozen corn, their favorite, and put it in there and they expertly picked it all out. They did try the FF, just didn't go over too well. I got a 5 gallon bucket of it.

 

[TeaChick]

My girls are not impressed with the FF I whipped up....any suggestions to make it more palatable or does it need to sit longer? They peck at it a little bit and then leave. Then it freezes....supposed to warm up this next week....girls are doing fine in the open air coop so far....it's a beautiful, sunny 35dg here today!

Maybe it's too cold? That would be my problem with it. I'm from Fla, so I don't eat salad in the winter, for instance; weird, I know, but maybe your birds are as picky as this Sunshine State girl.

 

[TeaChick]

I present to you, the Egg of Victory!

Thanks for posting the pic. I wish I had taken a pic of my first. =)

 

[TeaChick]

I warmed up some frozen corn, their favorite, and put it in there and they expertly picked it all out. They did try the FF, just didn't go over too well. I got a 5 gallon bucket of it.

Maybe they'll get used to it???

 

[Scott H]

Maybe needs to ferment?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
I will agree that timing can have an impact but so can diet. The male swimmers don't survive well in acidic environments leaving more female swimmers, thus increasing the odds of a female baby. I would think the same would apply to the hen. But there are lots of debates online about the different home methods of getting a girl or a boy baby. There is no perfect way to get a girl / boy without medical intervention. Nothing will give you that 100% promise of a girl without a lab sorting the swimmers. Still the home remedies abound and can be fun to try, especially if one is trying them out on chickens where the turnover time is really quick compared to humans. I mean waiting less than a month to see if there was an impact on the hatched eggs sure beats the up to 42 weeks it can take to grow a baby.

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

Actually, the male sperm have a harder time surviving in an acidic environment.

In the vagina yes, but once it passes the cervix, the vinegar won't have the same effect.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: Ahh but if all of the males die before they reach that point than the vinegar did something. If not there is the diet that makes the female body acidic not just part of it acidic. And believe it or not there are home remedies that even try to increase or decrease the time it takes to get into the cervix.
There are some pretty extreme home remedies out there. It is a great research project for a rainy or snowy day.

Not too sure how many can be effectively tried on chickens though. Maybe the diet ones. Maybe the timing ones. Can't say I would try washing out a chickens vent with vinegar to see if it worked. And there are a few other home remedies that can't be tried with the rooster as no way you are going to get a rooster to take a hot shower just before mating the hen. Then again you might be able to have a rooster mate with many hens and hope the last hens of the day produce more female chicks.
I'm thinking I might try the diet tricks on my hens but that would be about as far as I would take the experiment.