Does the rooster or the hen determine the sex of the chick

greenaus · **Posted:** Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:14 pm

Kylie wrote:

I think i have it the right way round but you never know :roll:

It's pretty hard to do it the wrong way round, so you should be right.

Kylie · **Posted:** Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:15 pm

Mrpeewee · **Posted:** Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:51 pm

The sex of the chicken is definately determined at fertilisation, which occurs inside the hen when the ovum is still just a yolk sac. In birds, females carry the smaller chromosome - correct terminology is Z and W because of this reversal. Z for the X and W for the Y. So in humans a man has XY and woman has XX if they are normal

. But in birds females have ZW (XY) and males have ZZ (XX). There is a lot of speculation regarding sperm speed and rate of fertilisation. It is often thought that older roosters produce uneven sex percentages because they produce sperm in uneven numbers, however this has not been proven as yet. I tend to personally find that some hatches produce almost 50% splits of sex and others lean one way or the other, I honestly just think it is all a matter of luck, whichever sperm reaches the egg first and is the strongest wins!

County Lodge · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:56 am

Kylie wrote:

i'll pretend to understand all of the above :roll:

I was told that humidity and temp were what determind sex, but obviously i was miss informed :-?

I know Kylie. It was after we talked on Saturday re ALL MY BOY CHICKS

that I though I would post this as I have been told that before when I complained I seem to hatch more boys than girls. So it got me thinking maybe I am wrong and there is some truth in this old wives tale.

All my research to date indicates that it is only the sex of repile eggs that can be affected by temp and humidity. :-?

County Lodge · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:04 am

Kylie wrote:

:roll:

With humans there are lots of factors that contribute to the sex of a baby, its got to do with how fast or slow the little spermy's swim too, males sperm does determine sex but, x & y swim at different speeds, boy sperms are faster than girl sperms but girl sperms crack through the egg quicker and boy sperm die faster :shock:

I think i have it the right way round but you never know :roll:

And it can depend on the alkaline or acidic level of the vagina etc as the ph level can also determine what sperm live or die (in male and female). That is where all that stuff comes from to eat citrus etc if you want a particular sex baby :-?

So maybe chooks might be the same here. Maybe boy chicks and girl chicks are determined by the ph level of the hen. :?:

County Lodge · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:08 am

Mrpeabody wrote:

The sex of the chicken is definately determined at fertilisation, which occurs inside the hen when the ovum is still just a yolk sac. In birds, females carry the smaller chromosome - correct terminology is Z and W because of this reversal. Z for the X and W for the Y. So in humans a man has XY and woman has XX if they are normal

. But in birds females have ZW (XY) and males have ZZ (XX). There is a lot of speculation regarding sperm speed and rate of fertilisation. It is often thought that older roosters produce uneven sex percentages because they produce sperm in uneven numbers, however this has not been proven as yet. I tend to personally find that some hatches produce almost 50% splits of sex and others lean one way or the other, I honestly just think it is all a matter of luck, whichever sperm reaches the egg first and is the strongest wins!

Yep this is my way of thinking to.

I have enjoyed the contribution from everyone oon this as I really do not like to accept statements without fact and this one (because I was a novice in chook breeding) really had me for awhile.

greenaus · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:25 am

County Lodge wrote:

And it can depend on the alkaline or acidic level of the vagina etc as the ph level can also determine what sperm live or die (in male and female). That is where all that stuff comes from to eat citrus etc if you want a particular sex baby :-?

So maybe chooks might be the same here. Maybe boy chicks and girl chicks are determined by the ph level of the hen. :?:

We're trying for a boy and to create the right environment requires a lot of ... :oops:

... preparation.

Despite the wonderful displays of many birds, I don't think the hens get any particular satisfaction from watching him dance, any more than my wife would if I did a dance.

And, the actual act between the hen and rooster is so brief, I doubt she gets any satisfaction from that either.

Like you said, if PH is an issue for chooks, their diet might make a difference.

Unlike human couples, that would be really good, because that is something that we as their keepers and feeders can control to a fair degree.

Humans seem to have little self-control when it comes to feeding themselves. My wife gave up dairy for maybe two or three days. :lol:

County Lodge · **Posted:** Wed May 14, 2008 10:10 am

I thought I would bump this up as we have been through why so many roosters before but I never did get a satifactory answer.

Maybe it is in the hands of the gods.

greenaus · **Posted:** Wed May 14, 2008 10:54 am

Maybe the reason one person gets lots of boys is because others get lots of girls.

When Kylie looked in at my first batch of eight chickens, she said..."You have a lot of girls in there" and she was right. There were just two boys.

Even in the human world, some families are "boy" families and some are "girl" families.

Maybe in the chook world someone was onto something when they suggested it could be related to similar things as humans -- diet, stress, etc.

rocky · **Joined:** Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:36 pm **Posts:** 144

Unlike us fowl do not have a male XY & a female XX, the sex chromosomes are different in fowl,the male has 2,XX and the hen has only one usually written X- or XW.
In reptiles such as crocodiles incubation temperature determines sex, this does not work in fowl, neither does the shape of the egg determine the sex of the chick.
If it was that easy don't you think the commercial hatcheries would not have perfected it by now?

AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Does the rooster or the hen determine the sex of the chick

Who is on the Forum