What is the secret to hatching chickens from eggs, not roosters?
The odds of hatching from eggs in an incubator - chickens or roosters - is approximately 50/50, with a slight advantage towards males. As a rule, most are interested in breeding females from hatching eggs, or at least in making them the main part of the brood. It would be great if there was a way to increase the number of females among chicks, rather than males. It turns out that he actually is!
While there are many different methods that can help determine the sex of chicks (including the length of the feathers on the wings, the difference in plumage color, sex determination by the type of cloaca), some of them are suitable only for certain breeds of chickens, and such special methods as examining the cloaca to determine floor, it is best to entrust a professional. In addition, many grandmother's tales are passed from generation to generation on how to determine who will hatch from the eggs - a female or a male, but they are not scientifically proven and do not always give the expected result, which can be seen only after the chickens hatch from the eggs.
About the shape of eggs
Many are sure that the shape of the eggs can accurately determine the sex of future chickens. Unfortunately, however, this is a myth. They say that the pointed shape of the eggs indicates future cockerels, and the rounder one indicates the hens. But this approach cannot be considered authoritative. Nevertheless, I agree with something - only in the case when each hen lays eggs of the same shape all the time, you will notice that some of them hatch more eggs with female embryos, while others with male ones. But in any case, this is an unreliable method of determining gender.
You will probably be surprised to learn that there is a way that you can change the ratio of chickens to males in a brood.
How to change the ratio of chicks in favor of females, not males
It turns out it's all about the temperature! I read that if the temperature in the incubator is slightly increased, then, most likely, males will hatch, and if you lower it, then it is more likely that chickens. It is also interesting that females are most likely to hatch from the eggs hatched by the brood hen. I think that in nature everything is arranged reasonably, because a flock of birds needs chickens more than roosters. It seems that the temperature at which the hatching eggs are stored does play an important role. Try to keep the storage temperature at 4 ° C for several days instead of the usually recommended setting of around 16 ° C to breed more female chicks. These are the conclusions reached by scientists in Australia who conducted the research.
And now the most important thing! Keep in mind that whatever you do will not change the sex of the chick inside the egg - this is already predetermined. However, for some reason, male embryos seem to be more sensitive to low temperatures, so they simply won't hatch from their eggs. Thus, the total number of hatched chicks will decrease, but the percentage of females among them will be significantly higher.
It is sad to know that most roosters will never be born. But even those who prefer to keep them in their flocks do not seek to breed males in equal numbers with females. So the poor roosters are doomed from the start. However, it is much more humane than letting unwanted chicks hatch.
I actually find this information very interesting. When I ordered the hatching eggs, the weather was cold in Maine, and I would not be surprised that at some point in the trip, the eggs were in temperature conditions of about 4 ° C. In the early days of the incubation period, I also lowered temperature in the incubator for chicken eggs... It is interesting to see what will be the ratio of hens to roosters in the brood.
Have any of you tried using this method? If so, it would be interesting to know about your results.
Hello, I made a homemade incubator, on the first test 60 eggs were laid, 15 of them were not fertilized and 5 froze in the process. 40 hatched, 4 did not get a stomach, all 36 turned out to be chickens. As a result, it turned out that I did not make the temperature and humidity Karelia. The minimum temperature was found to be 36.4. The second time I installed everything properly, I checked it without eggs. I laid 180 eggs, 155 of them were 93 cockerels, during incubation, I noticed that the temperature between the trays was slightly higher than the set one by 0.3 0.5 degrees, the fan is weak and weakly moves the air into the incubator. I also sin that temperature affects the sex of the chicken. I'll redo the incubator and try to lower the temperature, let's see what happens.
I have blitz norm 72 laid 70 eggs temp. 37.2 humidity 55. Day 18 37.6 humidity 70. 55 chicks hatched. Not one chicken is insulting. What to do I feed. Please send your incubation table if possible. Now I killed Big - 6.
I also experimented. I took out 10 days at a temperature of 37.4, then 37.8. Of 80 eggs, 42 hens, 35 parsley. Solved the way does not work
I read from one specialist that the sex is determined in the first 4 days of incubation. 4 days - t-38.4 (they say there will be more chickens) after that 37.7. So I did. Boom see
and what no one tries, as the author advises in the article: "Try to maintain the storage temperature for several days at 4 ° C instead of the usually recommended mode of about 16 ° C"
:-))))