What are the Chances?

[Mylied]

You ever hatch out all one sex? I have about 10 grow outs I hatched and /all/ are cockerels. What the heck? Looks like the younger 5ish are leaning cockerel too.

 

[AltonaAcres]

I had 8/9 males in a button quail clutch

 

[Acre4Me]

yes, it can happen - wonderful if they are all female!

I have read that some believe it has something to do with temperature of the incubation at a particular time point, but read other places that it is not a valid point.

Sorry for the luck. Can you grow out to butcher?

 

[NatJ]

I have read that some believe it has something to do with temperature of the incubation at a particular time point, but read other places that it is not a valid point.

I think it's been proven that temperature during incubation will never change the sex of a chicken. Whether certain temperatures kill more of one gender or the other is not as well settled, but even if that worked it would show up as more dead embryos of one sex and no extras of the other sex.

You ever hatch out all one sex? I have about 10 grow outs I hatched and /all/ are cockerels. What the heck? Looks like the younger 5ish are leaning cockerel too.

How many did you hatch?
The odds of getting all male are 1 in 2 for a single chick, 1 in 4 for two chicks, 1 in 8 for three chicks, 1 in 16 for four chicks, 1 in 32 for five chicks... (doubles every time you add another chick.)

 

[The Moonshiner]

@Overo Mare

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I had a hatch this spring with 6 brown eggs, 6 hatched, and a couple dozen blue/green. They were marked and kept separate for genetic testing reasons. All six brown were girls. The rest had a somewhat even split. It just happens sometimes.

 

[cmom]

The female genes in chickens determine the sex of the chicks.

 

[cmom]

I have had hatches when there have been more males and other hatches where I've had more females hatch. If temperature would affect gender I would certainly do it. Only works with reptiles.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I had 11/14 cockerels this year in a silkie hatch!

 

[Mylied]

yes, it can happen - wonderful if they are all female!

I have read that some believe it has something to do with temperature of the incubation at a particular time point, but read other places that it is not a valid point.

Sorry for the luck. Can you grow out to butcher?

They're bantam cochin/silkies so wouldn't be worth eating. I'll just give them away. Sucks because I had 2 people wanting pullets and it's the only reason I didn't sell them as chicks.