Toad Raising.

[yellowherb]

Oh I should point out it was my neighbor down the road's eggs I used that were refrigerated. He gets way over 55% rooster chicks when he lets his broodies do the job. But on the refrigerated eggs I got I only hatched the 1 rooster to 8 hen chicks. I had high mortality in the eggs but I attributed that at first to the fact they had been refrigerated. It was only as I thought more and more about it that it occurred to me that it might have to do with the temperatures so I looked around on the internet and found some studies.

 

[yellowherb]

In that case, my girls should be laying all females cos I have 5 cockbirds in a 15 hen flock....

It's a idea I plan on playing with one day when I get enough layers laying and if I can tolerate the noise of a few extra roosters for a while.

But, if a rooster is supposed to be a protector and give himself up so the hens can escape, then hens will always lay male eggs as a just in case and to keep young roosters around and ready to move into place as leader/protector. Just banging ideas around in my head. So I should probably shut up now so we can get back to talking about Toads!

That was some amazing growth on Mom's Toad chicks. Can't wait to see how the Cornish X compare, I'm betting on the Toads.

 

[JRNash]

Temperature........ Supposedly a 50/50 split.. That would explain WHY my hatches are always heavy on males.

 

[Fat Daddy]

This subject has always interested me as well. A group of us experimented with this several years ago using both coturnix quail and BCM chickens. Skewing the incubation temps one degree up and down. There was no significant difference in the end. There is lots of evidence that it does effect the sex in some reptiles thou. Alligators seem to be the most commonly studied. We came to the conclusion that if it were effectively possible. The poultry industry would have perfected it by now for a profit! On a side note... While running this experiment, a group of us were all running the same test, in several different states. We decided that to get real results, everyone should be using the same eggs. So we shipped coturnix eggs from the same source. This all happened in warmer summer temps. The biggest factor seemed to be the heat during shipping. The eggs coming into or out of Florida, Mississippi and Texas had lower hatch rates over all and high % of cock birds, while eggs that went to Colorado, Kansas and Wisconsin was normal hatch rates and sexes close to 50/50.... When it was a overall poor hatch rate to begin with, the cock bird percentage was higher.... We concluded that it was likely natures way of matching the population with environmental conditions. Hot dry spring/breeding season = less potential food. It would make sense to eliminate breeding females during periods of low food supply. It was less noticeable with the BCM's. But there were fewer folks working with them as well...

 

[DwayneNLiz]

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.

https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/art...w-to-determine-chickens-sex-before-they-hatch

its old but there is science behind it

 

[duluthralphie]

Where do I get one of these machines.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Where do I get one of these machines.

i dont know, but i want one too!

 

[ChirpnBern]

I thought this thread was going to be about raising toads as in the amphibians, like to help increase critical populations or something. This is absolutely fascinating. Will be following!

 

[duluthralphie]

I have some good news!

After a couple of terrible hatches, by people on here, I decided to try hatching them here again and selling the chicks instead of the eggs,

I put 10 eggs in almost 3 weeks ago, I moved them to the hatcher today 9 appear viable and moving!


I am now trying to find a place for these toads. I have a local gal that has said she wants them ( by Local I mean in Minnesota). If she does not I will be looking for a home for them...

I have not made an ad for them yet but will before I actually ship them. So think about it.

Shipping costs run 40-50 bucks with the boxes bedding and postage to most places...





I am so happy to have 9 more chicks (potentially) coming, I am not naive enough to think all 9 will hatch.

 

[yellowherb]

That's great news about the Toad chicks!
A side note on that shipped egg experiment I have going, the 1st set of eggs are set to hatch Saturday and the only 2 eggs I've lost out of both shipments were not wrapped eggs. I haven't checked them in 4 days though. I still think it's worth trying on toad eggs when you can find a guinea pig, especially since it will take you several days to collect the eggs if only a few of your hens are laying so far.
I'm still hoping to get hold of Toads one day in the future when you ship non NPIP and out of state. I think Toads are a brilliant idea and I really admire all the work, blood, sweat and tears you have put into them.