Egg shape: I actually played with that for a couple of years. My first random hatches were 60% cockerels. Then, after reading a study that indicated that there was a minor correlation between egg shape and chick gender: round = pullet, long/pointy = cockerel. The study did a measurement doing a ratio between circumference around the widest part of the "middle" and that of the ends. My following three hatches showed a shift to 60% pullet and 40% cockerel. Not bad. Huge improvement, huh? Unfortunately, the last 2 hatches, even with egg shape chosen to favor pullets, I ended up with a return to the 60% cockerel, and 40% pullet. But, hope springs eternal. I continue to experiment, and will work on refrigeration prior to set this spring.
Loved the worm gitter sticks. Need to make me some of those!
Determining chick gender: I've heard it said that if you pick a chick up by it's head, that a cockerel will lift his feet, while a pullet will let her feet dangle. Um... I can't fathom inflicting such treatment on a chick.
How bout this one: all chicks can be feather sexed.
Then, there's this one: Rhubarb leaves are poison. My chickens never read the rule book on that one. Every fall, when I open my garden up for gleaning, they skeletonize the rhubarb leaves.
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...yepp, I got some sun age spotting from my first broodies.
