Hatch rates; male/female ratio

[Bephlam]

auracana cross maran gives you olive green egg layers. Can't add anything to the hatch ratio, as I'm yet to attempt it this year...although...with one broody faverolle in her nest box it's looking more and more likely I'll be attempting it!

[Suechooks]

Never was much good at algebra and you've lost me completely.
One interesting thing I found out lately (and appologies that it's totally unrelated to the original thread title)........... is that in a blue Aruacana the blue egg laying gene is carried with the male? If I can possibly rellieve a fellow allotmenteer of his L/F blue Arucana cockerel I could put him with ANY hen and hatch chicks that lay BLUE eggs.......I think?

I think you need to cross the male araucana with a white egg layer to get the blue rather than blue-green. Something like a leghorn. A sussex might work.

[RichmondHens]

Snadge - I had heard the same thing about the blue egg laying gene being carried by males, and I'm doing an experiment. I hatched a couple of Araucana cross bantams 8 weeks ago (eggs given by a friend and turns out one is male, one female). The eggs came from a pure Araucana hen mated with a "Heinz 57" cock. I will be interested to see what colour eggs the female will lay when she reaches that stage.

Point of interest: I watched them both hatch in the incubator and they came out like racehorses - much faster than my LS or Welsummer. From pip to complete hatch only a couple of hours and almost literally throwing the shell off. ? v vigorous stock.

Corax - I'm not sure I want to eat my hens as I have got to the point where I have a super flock laying fantastic eggs in abundance. Now you've given me something to consider ................ perhaps I should stop breeding from this flock and set up another?

[CoraxAurata]

Don't do anything on my account - its theories rather than knowledge <g> There is an overwhelming amount of stuff out there if you are really into genetics and then there are numerous cases of 'impossible' colour results too which undermine any amount of scientific knowledge and research (just to keep us guessing)...

As seperate aside I have a young cockeral who's mum is a Wheaton Marans and Dad is light cuckoo - he looks like a welsummer with dark cuckoo undercarriage... bizarre.

[bluemoon]

If Cockerals carry the ZZ (I looked it up <g>) gene and female is WZ surely its the hen which will provide the chromosome that determines the gender (following the reversal of mammal genetics where the sperm provide either X or Y)? Stud cockeral wouldn't have a girl chromosome so wouldn't be at fault - I guess then and egg can carry W or Z... ?

Absolutely correct, but the theory was that in female humans (XX) fewer genetic diseases express themselves as for every 'bad' copy of a gene on one X chromosome there is a second 'good' copy on the other one, the situation would be reversed in chickens meaning that an unaffected (but carrier) cockerel would pass on the gene, for it to be expressed in his female (one bad copy) offspring. This could be a reason for lower survival/hatching rates of hens. I stress it IS just a theory, I was basically thinking aloud and I've never heard of this type of genetic illness in chickens. A human equivalent would be colour blindness (caused by a gene passed from an unaffected (but carrier) mother to her sons, even though she doesn't have a Y chromosome to pass on as the problem occurs with the single, affected, X).

[RichmondHens]

[QUOTE=RichmondHens;474889]Snadge - I had heard the same thing about the blue egg laying gene being carried by males, and I'm doing an experiment. I hatched a couple of Araucana cross bantams 8 weeks ago (eggs given by a friend and turns out one is male, one female). The eggs came from a pure Araucana hen mated with a "Heinz 57" cock. I will be interested to see what colour eggs the female will lay when she reaches that stage.

Duh - just realised what I wrote. I think I meant I had heard about the blue gene being dominant, not realising it was the MALE who carried it. So my "experiment" will be useless! Oh well, looks like I have a pretty little bantam hen anyway!

[di]

Never was much good at algebra and you've lost me completely.
One interesting thing I found out lately (and appologies that it's totally unrelated to the original thread title)........... is that in a blue Aruacana the blue egg laying gene is carried with the male? If I can possibly rellieve a fellow allotmenteer of his L/F blue Arucana cockerel I could put him with ANY hen and hatch chicks that lay BLUE eggs.......I think

(sorry,had to edit your smilies!)

If you fancy a trip down to beautiful Sunny Suffolk,may be able to help you out there...only thing is would rather it a gift than a loan!(except our cocks are Legbars not Aracuana(sc)...but blue egg gene all the same!)

Feel a bit dim putting this as you've all been so scientific in your answers/explanations(it never was my strong point),but anyway,We hatched two lots at the same time.The incubated ones had pretty steady temperatures for the whole of the incubation & four out of eight hatched,at least three boys and we're pretty sure our Darling Pip the cutest Bantam is an ickle boy too.I opened the legbar egg that failed to hatch & it was a little girl.
The ones under Marigold & Dandelion,five out of thirteen hatched...which to be honest was more than we were expecting.The first night of her sitting" on them...she didn't,so they got pretty darned cold in the first 24 hours,she was then the perfect broody right up to three days before hatch day when she got off them & refused to get back on.I know they were left for at least three hours,more than likely longer,before Dandelion took over and great as she was,there was often an egg or two uncovered.Out of the five we are pretty confident that there's four girls.
Don't know if you clever folk can make any scientific conclusions from that?