How to tell Male or Female Egg?? 92% accurate!

[djnruben]

I had 8 7 round 1 pointy 5 hatch got 4 male 1 female lol

 

[BlueBaby]

I had 8 7 round 1 pointy 5 hatch got 4 male 1 female lol

So, was it the pointy one that hatched female?

 

[Erka97]

Generally, the methods here don't really make much sense since the egg genders are determined by chromosomes, "XY" in this case for hens and "XX" for roosters. Like mammals, one parent always donates an X, in this case the rooster while for mammals it's mom, and then the other will give either the X or the Y. This is only theoretically 50/50, as sometimes conditions the parents are in have shown to change this, and there are some genetic factors that I have come to know recently that can cause the having of only males or only female offspring. The only way I would think egg shape would predict sex would be if a certain hen both produced a specific egg shape more often and a higher number of male/female chicks. Birds, unlike lizards and turtles and the like, are not determined by temperature, just as mammals aren't. I've not done experiments for this, as it doesn't seem needed with the theoretical data, but experiments have been done with other animals showing both the non-50/50 occurrences and the genetic factors. There is also a method being developed that I've heard of recently where they put a small hole in the egg and use a laser to essentially detect the DNA content of the cells in the egg -more is male, less is female- and then seal the hole and incubate the desired eggs.

 

[BlueBaby]

Generally, the methods here don't really make much sense since the egg genders are determined by chromosomes, "XY" in this case for hens and "XX" for roosters. Like mammals, one parent always donates an X, in this case the rooster while for mammals it's mom, and then the other will give either the X or the Y. This is only theoretically 50/50, as sometimes conditions the parents are in have shown to change this, and there are some genetic factors that I have come to know recently that can cause the having of only males or only female offspring. The only way I would think egg shape would predict sex would be if a certain hen both produced a specific egg shape more often and a higher number of male/female chicks. Birds, unlike lizards and turtles and the like, are not determined by temperature, just as mammals aren't. I've not done experiments for this, as it doesn't seem needed with the theoretical data, but experiments have been done with other animals showing both the non-50/50 occurrences and the genetic factors. There is also a method being developed that I've heard of recently where they put a small hole in the egg and use a laser to essentially detect the DNA content of the cells in the egg -more is male, less is female- and then seal the hole and incubate the desired eggs.

I think that the difference between a nice rounder oval shaped egg would give the chick that is growing inside (no matter what sex it will be) more room than a long skinny pointed one.

 

[Erka97]

Yeah, probably. I'd wonder if stronger chicks are produced from the rounder eggs, rather than hen chicks.

 

[BlueBaby]

Yeah, probably. I'd wonder if stronger chicks are produced from the rounder eggs, rather than hen chicks.

Well, one way to find out is to try this thought out for the next hatch, and keep track of the 2 types of eggs. Then we could come back here and tell your results.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Yeah, probably. I'd wonder if stronger chicks are produced from the rounder eggs, rather than hen chicks.

And it could be that male chicks do tend to be stronger and can get out of that thicker shell easier than female chicks. One other observation I have made is eggs gathered early in the hatching year tend to favor males. Later in the hatching year tend to favor females. Eggs later in the hatching year tend to be a little thinner so maybe females have easier time getting out?
Or could it just be the natural order of things? More males produced first so they are more mature and ready to take over and protect the flock before the younger females start producing?

 

[Birds of a Feather]

Interesting.

 

[Mama Litts]

Well, I’m setting a broody hen on eggs tomorrow, so maybe I’ll just throw all the tips in and see if I can max out the pullet count. I selected the roundest eggs, they’ve been in a cool place waiting for a mama (I live in the PNW, so eggs that aren’t in a heated place are gonna have some “cool” time about 9 months of the year), and they’ll be hen-set in my unheated coop. We’ll see whatwe get! I will say that while we’ve gotten some roos, this will be my 3rd year letting the broodies hatch - always with purchased hatching eggs so far, and usually we end up, fortunately, with way more shes than hes.

 

[little-beep]

Well, I’m setting a broody hen on eggs tomorrow, so maybe I’ll just throw all the tips in and see if I can max out the pullet count. I selected the roundest eggs, they’ve been in a cool place waiting for a mama (I live in the PNW, so eggs that aren’t in a heated place are gonna have some “cool” time about 9 months of the year), and they’ll be hen-set in my unheated coop. We’ll see whatwe get! I will say that while we’ve gotten some roos, this will be my 3rd year letting the broodies hatch - always with purchased hatching eggs so far, and usually we end up, fortunately, with way more shes than hes.

this is an old thread but I just read thru it all b/c it's super interesting!