Why does it seem I can only hatch roosters??

[stevetone]

I learned from an old timer and now I am 40+ years into chickens. I will not get into the scientific theories or try to explain any thoughts. I can only tell you that some years are rooster years and some years are pullet years.
There has been years that I have prayed for a rooster and then the other way around. Just keep doing it as right as you can do it and it will average out. I will be the first to admit that the rooster years SUCK.

I, for one, would be interested to hear the scientific theories or at least an explanation that supports your experience.

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

The hen laying the egg determines the sex of the chick
http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Breeding.html
This is a pretty neat site

 

[hollys chooks]

The hen laying the egg determines the sex of the chick
http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Breeding.html
This is a pretty neat site

This is correct, the sex chromosome (W or Z) inherited from the hen determines the sex of the chick. They all get a W chromosome from the rooster.

I don't know about incubators and haven't bred chickens but I do understand the genetics involved.
Statistically speaking you should get half and half but in small sample groups (less than 20 or so would be statistically small) you could be getting skewed numbers simply by chance.

Are your eggs all fertilized from one rooster? If a rooster has a mutated lethal recessive gene on one of its W chromosomes this could result in a decrease (half the number expected on average) of hen chicks. It wouldn't effect rooster chick numbers (or the rooster itself) as they have a second W chromosome that would have a normal gene on it.
This would be a very rare occurrence and not something to generally worry about but if you have no joy when you are sure all other things are working ok it might be worth trying an unrelated roo.

I wish I could have a rooster but in a little suburban backyard the neighbours would complain. And I probably would too, not a morning person.

 

[Oisian]

Just a random thought that maybe long term chicken people can discuss. I got new young birds as mated pairs. [ayam Cemani] They raised three clutches on their own. One clutch I lost to neighbours children opening the door and their dogs killed them. The other two clutches are now juveniles and seem to be mostly roosters. Here's my thought. In a new flock would a 'rooster year' be the first year as a protective foundation? The defence squad, ao to speak. Does the age of the flock affect the gender of the hatch? Do older birds produce more hens? Inquiring minds.....LOL.

 

[Mosey2003]

Can be multiple factors. The simplest being coincidence, since you're having such small hatches.

Individual hens will lay more eggs that are one sex or another. Storage and incubation temperate can effect which sex of embryos survive better, to kill off male embryos you need to keep them colder. So, it may be possible that your incubator is either running a bit too hot all the time, or is spiking hotter. At the very least, I would calibrate a non-digital thermometer and run your incubator with it to at least see where you're at.

 

[Mosey2003]

There is also a theory that spring vs. fall eggs skew one way or the other, but I can't remember which way it's said to be. I think it's fall that you should get more females.

 

[RogerCoody1]

I was having the same problem. Each broody would hatch out 6 eggs and I always ended up with 4 roos and 2 hens! This went on for a while.

But now its the other way around. One hen just raised 5 chicks and they are all hens!!!! I think you have had you bad luck, and next time you will get more hens.

The hen decides if chick will be pullet or stag