Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post Reply
User avatar
windwalkingwolf
Poultry Guru - pullet level
Posts: 3567
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:31 pm
Answers: 3
Location: Frankville, Ontario
x 4899

Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post by windwalkingwolf » Mon May 23, 2016 2:14 am

I was Goggling to see if anyone was looking into sexing chicken eggs before fertilization (they are :D) and found a cool article about incubation temperatures as they relate to gender. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/a-dro ... 38516.html Now, the article is from 1997, and I can't find anything newer, which most likely means another study has discredited those findings, or money was never forthcoming to continue study. Unfortunate, I'd really like to know if there's any merit to the idea. Mama One never did give me a daughter, and she snuck loads of her own illegitimate babies by me LOL.
For anyone interested in the sexing of chicks before hatch, there are two ways: intra ovum dna tests, which is expensive and has the possible unfortunate consequence of reducing hatchability, and also this: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultryne ... g-by-2016/ which measures specific blood vessels at about 3 days of incubation.
I'd certainly be interested in a home testing device LOL.
The push is on in Germany for a reliable in-egg sexing method because they're attempting to phase out hatchery culling of male layer chicks. Just watch the price of pet food go up if they succeed.
2

User avatar
Robbie
Head Chicken
Posts: 1390
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:24 am
Answers: 1
Location: Cadmus, Ontario
x 867

Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post by Robbie » Mon May 23, 2016 8:39 am

It's true, it's the hen that determines the sex of the chick. The Germans have developed a number of technologies, I like this one:
http://www.chickencolours.com/Egg%20Sexing.pdf
but unfortunately I think a home egg testing kit is pretty far away. In the meantime, we do have sex linked and autosexing breeds, but of course you have to wait until hatch to tell.
0
:sFun_mornincoffee:

User avatar
WLLady
Stringy Old Soup Pot Hen of a Moderator
Posts: 5613
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:55 pm
Answers: 5
Location: Rural near West Lorne and Glencoe
x 8527

Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post by WLLady » Mon May 23, 2016 9:40 am

Yeah...in people the male is xy and girls are xx so the dad determines baby's sex by either giving an x or y...mom must give an x...so only dad determines baby's sex.

Chickens are opposite. The mom carries 2 diifferent chromosome z and w. So its her donation that determines chick's sex. And interestingly its why sex linking works...and why barred girls are darker than the boys because the genes involved are sex linked so girls can only have 1 where boys get 2. 2 barring genes - lighter bird. 1 barring gene - darker bird...so thats why barred rock girls are typically darker than boys. And since barring is sex linked a sex linked cross onto barred rock girls means only the boys will be barred and those chicks get a head dot (the effect of barring on chick down) and girls don't. The barred girls can only give barring gene to boys via donating the w from her...carrying barring and dad is not barred so no barring genes on w from dad...so offspring must be a boy with a head dot/barring (w from mom with barring plus unbarred w from dad) while girl offspring get z from mom and unbarred w from dad.
2
:giraffe: Pet quality wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucanas, welsummers, barred rocks, light brown leghorns; Projects on the go: rhodebars, welbars

User avatar
Robbie
Head Chicken
Posts: 1390
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:24 am
Answers: 1
Location: Cadmus, Ontario
x 867

Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post by Robbie » Mon May 23, 2016 11:23 am

The head dot thing didn't work for the barred hollands. All had a spot, and some were much larger patches of yellow than others, but either patch size produced both sexes of chicks. Glad I didn't cull based on that! Not sure why it would be different for the Hollands.
0
:sFun_mornincoffee:

User avatar
WLLady
Stringy Old Soup Pot Hen of a Moderator
Posts: 5613
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:55 pm
Answers: 5
Location: Rural near West Lorne and Glencoe
x 8527

Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post by WLLady » Mon May 23, 2016 11:38 am

but all barred hollands carry barring....even the girls i thought. and slow feathering can also affect barring-there's some thought that cuckoo is actually the same gene as barred (B) but that slow feathering (K) in barred birds gives rise to the cuckoo phenotype.

if you have a barred dad (1 copy of barring) and a barred mom (2 or 1 copies of barring) then all the kids will be barred and have white head spots. Also, if you have a barred dad (2 copies) over a non-barred girl (0 copies), all the offspring will be barred, because dad gives barring to all the kids...he always donates a w to each kid. so all the kids would be barred, and have head dots.
0
:giraffe: Pet quality wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucanas, welsummers, barred rocks, light brown leghorns; Projects on the go: rhodebars, welbars

User avatar
Robbie
Head Chicken
Posts: 1390
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:24 am
Answers: 1
Location: Cadmus, Ontario
x 867

Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post by Robbie » Mon May 23, 2016 11:46 am

Yes, they are all barred, but I thought you could sex them based on the size of the dot? Small spots were supposed to be females, large blotches males....... but it wasn't so. Maybe it's because they don't have the slow feather gene (thankfully!), It's really too early to tell, but it seems at least one of my males is only a half- barred male- so there must be some black outcrops from time to time?
Have to admit, the barred hollands were a very pleasant surprise- I'm really taking a liking to that breed.
0
:sFun_mornincoffee:

User avatar
WLLady
Stringy Old Soup Pot Hen of a Moderator
Posts: 5613
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:55 pm
Answers: 5
Location: Rural near West Lorne and Glencoe
x 8527

Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post by WLLady » Mon May 23, 2016 11:52 am

some people also try to sex barred rocks by the size of the head dot too. personally i can easily get them all wrong...all the time LOL. apparently the double barred boys *should* have larger splotchier head dots while the girls should be a tighter, rounder more circular lighter head dot. certainly never worked for me....LOL. i'm 100% sure that modifiers for pattern/colour completely mess with the dot.....LOL
0
:giraffe: Pet quality wheaten/blue wheaten ameraucanas, welsummers, barred rocks, light brown leghorns; Projects on the go: rhodebars, welbars

User avatar
Robbie
Head Chicken
Posts: 1390
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:24 am
Answers: 1
Location: Cadmus, Ontario
x 867

Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post by Robbie » Mon May 23, 2016 5:48 pm

WLLady wrote:QR_BBPOST some people also try to sex barred rocks by the size of the head dot too. personally i can easily get them all wrong...all the time LOL. apparently the double barred boys *should* have larger splotchier head dots while the girls should be a tighter, rounder more circular lighter head dot. certainly never worked for me....LOL. i'm 100% sure that modifiers for pattern/colour completely mess with the dot.....LOL
Have to completely agree with that one- was not a reliable indicator for me either.
0
:sFun_mornincoffee:

User avatar
Giffen Farms
Starting to Crow
Posts: 305
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:47 am
Location: Minesing
x 320

Have a hen that seems to only produce roosters?

Post by Giffen Farms » Mon May 23, 2016 9:47 pm

Last year I had a pair of bantam buff cochins that would only produce female chicks but with him and a silkie they prodiced only males, I've heard....it could be an old wives tale...that if the hen likes the rooster then you'll get all/mostly female chicks and if she doesn't then it's all males. Food for thought.
1
What day is it, Christopher Robin? Its today Pooh, my favorite day!

Post Reply

Return to “Incubating and Hatching”