4 ms·

Is sperm sex selection not possible? (it is in humans) Is this detectable via ultrasound of egg? Why not breed chickens with visible sex difference?

• djrogers 9y ago
  Sperm selection ain’t possible with chickens, because all sperm is the same chromosome. The females provide the variant chromosome to determine sex, unlike mammals.
• bayesian_horse 9y ago
  It would also be impractical because you need too much sperm to inseminate chickens, in terms of producing profit. In cattle, this is a lot easier, because bull semen can be diluted quite heavily and still produce viable offspring.
• viggity 9y ago
  elsewhere in the discussion it said that chickens have a ZW chromosome system. females are ZW, males are ZZ. so I guess the answer to your question is "no". as far as breeding something more noticeable is probably possible, the problem is when you find that trait and breed it into the variety, do you bring down the productivity of the variety. Is a 2% reduction in productivity of the chicken (over the course of its life) pay for the 3-4 seconds it takes for a chicken sexer to make a decision? Even if the sexer makes $60k/year and it takes them 4 seconds to make a decision, it only costs 3 cents to make a decision. There are a whole bunch of other considerations (life of avg layer, input costs per egg, etc). I don't know the answer, but is all that worth the risk that the productivity takes a 5% or 10% hit instead of 2%.