Why all roosters

[quailbrain]

This isn't something I know about but one of the egg-speriments I'm working with now is on the theory I had read about that UV light can affect sex of chicks.

The theory is----

Chicks in the early spring have a bit longer to mature to be able to breed that year and will be males since males take longer to mature they recieve less UV light.

Chicks that hatch in the summer need to grow fast in order to breed and are more female as they mature faster and the mother hen is subject to longer UV rays in the summer which tells her chicks need to grow faster.

Chicks in the fall are again born to parents who have been exposed to less UV. those chicks have a full winter to mature for breeding and thus will be male as the male takes longer to mature.




It makes sense to me and so far I am finding it to be somewhat true. I have added a small amount of addition UV lighting to some of my quail cages and will see how it goes further. I have had a difference between the natural lighting and the ones under artificial lighting however I've only been doing this for three hatches so it's not an established test or anything.

 

[Ban seabhag]

One interesting point that thread brought up was the study (and personal experiments) that indicate the number of Roos in a flock might have some bearing -i.e Not enough roos and the hen will lay more pullet eggs, and vice versa. The reason this seems plausible to me is that certain amphibians will, if in an all female environment, change sex, to ensure reproduction is possible. I don't know that much about it, but it is fascinating if true.

 

[FisherMOM]

ix-nay on that theory Ban-s.

I had 2 roos and 12 hens. then we got 4 cockerels and 2 pullets from their eggs.