Toad Raising.

[Karen523]

I think I might have fatally flawed last years toads.

I lost another one yesterday, A pullet. She was missing at supper time, I found her dead in the coop.

I'm so sorry! That must be very frustrating!

 

[Momof3plustwins]

I think I might have fatally flawed last years toads.

I lost another one yesterday, A pullet. She was missing at supper time, I found her dead in the coop.

Bert and Bertha are going on 3,  their kids are not going to make it as long as them I am afraid.  Bertha is now mating with one of her sons as Bert is a barn rooster. He seems to be going strong considering his age and size.

Bertha is too. The first thing I looked at were the leg bands when I saw a toad missing hoping it was not Bertha.  It was not.

I lost a toad egg yesterday too.  I set on the roof of a coop.  NOTE TO SELF,,,, eggs are round and will roll down an inclined surface,

Obviously too early to tell on this years hatch but do you think this years hatch will have the effects of this fatal flaw?

It really is looking like I have just one cockerel and three hens. If I loose my roo I'll have to use another of my standard fowl Roos for breeding.

 

[duluthralphie]

Obviously too early to tell on this years hatch but do you think this years hatch will have the effects of this fatal flaw?

It really is looking like I have just one cockerel and three hens. If I loose my roo I'll have to use another of my standard fowl Roos for breeding.

I might have an extra here with luck, but I seem to be hen heavy this time around too.. Good luck.

 

[Momof3plustwins]

I guess we should be better for egg collecting but let's hope the boys stay alive and do their jobs!

 

[yellowherb]

I might have an extra here with luck, but I seem to be hen heavy this time around too.. Good luck.

There was a study done about chilling eggs (refrigerated) producing a higher amount of hen chicks and far less of rooster chicks. Since you live in a cold part of the country think this could have happened with your earlier eggs from the year?

 

[duluthralphie]

There was a study done about chilling eggs (refrigerated) producing a higher amount of hen chicks and far less of rooster chicks. Since you live in a cold part of the country think this could have happened with your earlier eggs from the year?

It is possible they were chilled but I do not buy that theory. Chickens are not reptiles where the temp plays a roll.

I am not one to think the WW turn into a WZ when the egg gets cold. I would be interested to see a double blind study on this.

 

[BantyChooks]

Doesn't change it, just supposedly male embryos are more sensitive to cold.

 

[duluthralphie]

Doesn't change it, just supposedly male embryos are more sensitive to cold.

That I can understand. I had someone try to tell me the eggs became male or female based on the temps.... I think the sex is set, the hatchability is not. Under this theory I should get more males as the temps push upwards towards the unbearable 70's.

 

[yellowherb]

What BantyChooks said. The non developing eggs or blood rings are the rooster chicks while the eggs making it to lockdown are the hen chicks for the most part. The eggs do not gender swap as reptile eggs do, the roosters just do not make it and the egg dies.

This was one of the things I was going to test, I did inadvertently test it on some eggs a friend gave me which had been refrigerated and nearly frozen. Out of 9 that went to lockdown only 1 was a rooster. Others who did not realize it were also testing it. The trader joe eggs.. Seems mostly female chicks hatched out of those.

 

[BantyChooks]

That I can understand. I had someone try to tell me the eggs became male or female based on the temps.... I think the sex is set, the hatchability is not. Under this theory I should get more males as the temps push upwards towards the unbearable 70's.

May those temps stay pushed far away, until they are simply horrible memories of distant past...