Does hatching date affect the sex of chicks?

[chick]

Hello everyone, I'm new to here but have kept hens for a few years now. I hatched my first-ever half dozen eggs last year, just after lockdown started in the spring and was totally eggstatic when all 6 hatched. I was less pleased a few weeks later when 5 of them turned out to be cockerels. The breeder I got the eggs from said that although I was unlucky, usually more males than females hatch earlier in the year, then the balance tips back the other way later in the season. Has anyone else found this? Reading a couple of posts on this thread would appear to support this idea. In which case should I wait before I start incubating this year, and if so what is the latest date people usually set eggs? 05

 

[Hen-Gen]

To be honest chick I think any stories you hear are old wives tales. Certainly my own experience in many years of chicken breeding do not show any predictable pattern. If time of year influenced the sex ratio then the big commercial firms would have caught on to it.
What is effected though is the relationship between hatching time and the start of laying. If you hatch in April, as I usually do, then the pullets come into lay in Oct/Nov. However if you hatch in June the pullets usually do not come into lay until the following Spring. On the plus side this gives the pullets longer to grow and mature before laying.

 

[chick]

Thanks for that. I might be getting the incubator out soon then. I've got a 6 year old hybrid light sussex who has been fantastic at laying so would like to get some of her chicks before she gets too old, or caught by Mr Fox. My Plymouth Barred Rock cockerel from last year's hatch is taking good care of the ladies so fingers crossed she has some fertile eggs. The ones we've had for breakfast have looked fertile. I wonder what the chicks will look like - can't wait.

 

[Marigold]

Hi Chick, good luck - and do let us know how you get on.