Does incubation temperature determine gender of chicks?

[pgpoultry]

Well back (sort of) to the original question about temperature and sex of chick.

Hatched 11 chicks on my incubator.....9 out of 11 roos, temperature would be on the low rather than the high side (wonderful ratio!!!!.....took forever to find homes for the boys).

Hatched 7 under broody.....temp and humidity always right....5 out of 7 pullet.


Think I will go for the broody next hatch........ However my limited knowledge of statistics tells me that these odds can happen any time by chance....... But still am going to stick to the broody!

Sandie

 

[Surehatch]

good info

 

[Annie1]

Hi yes it appears to be - see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/a-drop-in-temperature-can-change-the-sex-of-chickens-1238516.html to see that studies show that 37.5 Celcius gives both, a few degrees lower for 3 days gives chromosomally male, but appearance and functionally are female.

 

[Pele]

I'm not sure why this myth gets perpetuated so often and with such conviction. The only thing that increasing the temperature of a hatch is going to do is decrease the number of chicks that make it to hatch overall.

Chickens are not reptiles. Are they decended from common ancestors? Yes. But then so are humans. So with that logic you could firmly stand in the conviction that human pregnant women who spend a lot of time in warm water can change the gender of their children. It's not going to happen, because that's not how human embryos work. Same with chickens.

In fact, one could argue that it is even LESS likely to happen in a chicken than a human. Chicken gender is determined in each and every cell in their body. Each cell is pre-coded with their gender chromosome, not just the 'sex-cells' as in mammals. That is how you get Chimeras, where half the chicken's body has female cells, and half the body has male cells due to a genetic malfunction.

The only way that I could see temperature and gender being linked in the slightest is that female embryos tend to be genetically hardier than male embryos. Ergo, if you mess with the ideal growing conditions, your embryo deaths may favor males, ending up in a higher percentage of hatching females. But then again, I'd have to research that, because that's mostly true in mammals that have females carrying a copy of their X chromosome, where most of the actual cell formation information is kept. One X in a male means that if it's damaged, there's no backup copy. Not sure if that's true in chickens. So even that little bit of corrolation might not hold water.

 

[Criskin]

The only way that I could see temperature and gender being linked in the slightest is that female embryos tend to be genetically hardier than male embryos. Ergo, if you mess with the ideal growing conditions, your embryo deaths may favor males, ending up in a higher percentage of hatching females.

This makes sense with a hatch I had about a year ago. I was away from home for a week and in my absence, the temp rose too high, then got too low. I still had a good hatch rate but they were all females save for one male who was always a bit sickly and undersized.

 

[Grum P Oldamn]

A few years late, but a university has proven that a drop in temp for three days during incubation result in females forming instead of male (male become female in the egg) they are fertile females and give birth to only sterile males....good for the food industry, good for the countless number of chicks that are destroyed. The precise details are patented (so they can make money out of it) but I am seriously googling to try to find out specifics......might have a go at it if I get an incubator......here's the link if anyone is interested or still reading this thread http://www.independent.co.uk/news/a-drop-in-temperature-can-change-the-sex-of-chickens-1238516.html

 

[Turkeytruff]

A few years late, but a university has proven that a drop in temp for three days during incubation result in females forming instead of male (male become female in the egg) they are fertile females and give birth to only sterile males....good for the food industry, good for the countless number of chicks that are destroyed. The precise details are patented (so they can make money out of it) but I am seriously googling to try to find out specifics......might have a go at it if I get an incubator......here's the link if anyone is interested or still reading this thread http://www.independent.co.uk/news/a-drop-in-temperature-can-change-the-sex-of-chickens-1238516.html

this is fascinating! have you tried this out for yourself? I am just about to start 45 eggs off tonight...

 

[donrae]

this is fascinating! have you tried this out for yourself? I am just about to start 45 eggs off tonight...

That article is dated 1997. I'm guessing it didn't pan out.

 

[Turkeytruff]

YES I've been looking for other articles to verify and nothing has come up..... myths and rumours abound

Got 57 eggs in now and really hoping it's not too hot/ too dry etc. Trying hard not to get too excited until I get any actual chicks!

 

[Grum P Oldamn]

BBC reported that a university had patented the process as it was so valuable to the chicken industry...when I get around to incubating I will try temp change at 3 to 5 days and see results. You never know until you try