what does st. run mean?

[c.wilson]

Hi everybody.

I have a Meyer Hatchery catalog. I like almost all of the bantams but they all say st. run. Iv'e been on alot of different websites and it says that st. run means its a mixture of males and females. I have an aunt that ordered some bantams from there. Like I said before all the bantams are st. run. Well my aunt said that she ordered the Mille Fleur Belgian Bearded D'Uccle. She said that when she ordered them the people asked her if she wanted males for females.

I really would like to know how she got to choose if she got males or females if in the cataloog it says st. run.

Did the person on the phone just not know what she was doing or are the websites that I have been on all wrong.

I'm confused.

 

[ChickyPooh]

I want to know too!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Maybe they only quote the price for straight run, and the price for pullets fluctuates? In any case, it's a question that could be answered quickly with just a phone call to the hatchery.

 

[gritsar]

Straight run means not sexed. A mix of pullets and cockerels.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Yes that is a mix of males and females and she prob got a newbie worker who didn't know what she was doing. I'm sure when she gets her chicks they will be a mix. I got 7 only 2 ended up being male out of my mille fleur d'uccle

 

[gritsar]

And keep in mind, even if you order them sexed, sexing is not 100% accurate and a roo can sneak in.

 

[c.wilson]

thanks everybody!! that helped alot!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Davaroo]

Im in late on this one, but I had a thought:

Why not call the hatchery and ask?

 

[Alabama_boy]

Straight run means , Straight out of the hatchery .

You should have a few of both male and female if you order straight run .

 

[Davaroo]

It is an accepted paradigm that among sexual species, that is, those which reproduce sexually, the secondary sex ratio (i.e. at birth) of males to females is roughly 1:1. In humans (which have the most data on the subject) the secondary sex ratio is commonly assumed to be 1.05:1.00, boys to girls. Again, close enough.
But when we get chicks, it rarely works out that way. Why?

There are natural vectors which can skew these numbers in wild animal populations, such as species predation, habitat depletion, migrations, environmental influences and even the influence of individuals within the species.
But left to strike a balance among sexual species, wild or domestic, sexual species will normally revert to something very close to the 1:1 ratio.

That being said, for every ten eggs hatched, 5 should be males and five, females. That assumes a 100% hatch. In an imperfect world, however, not all eggs hatch, so we begin to see imbalances creep in at the outset.

Do hatcheries count out one male for one female when you get straight run or do they just grab a handful from the tray and pack em up? I dont know, but I suspect the latter. This adds another factor working against the 1:1 ratio for you, the end buyer.

Other possibilites working against an even mix are that some may die in transit, the hatchery may send you the last of the picked over batch and so on.
So it is little wonder that you get what really is just a random mix of males and females, when straight run implies a 1:1 split.

I dont know why I went down this road, except to maybe satisfy my own curiosity. But it was interesting!