Death proportion

[davlee]

What is your best guess as to the percentage of hens that die compared to cocks?

In my case I have never lost a cock unless it was somewhat old whereas now & then I lose a hen. My aviary is harmonious. Given that I don't want to breed my finches would it make sense to just keep males?

Thanks,
Dave

[Craig52]

What is your best guess as to the percentage of hens that die compared to cocks?

In my case I have never lost a cock unless it was somewhat old whereas now & then I lose a hen. My aviary is harmonious. Given that I don't want to breed my finches would it make sense to just keep males?

Thanks,
Dave

I think it really boils down to which specie of finch. It was always thought that WB crimsom cocks were very soft and died easily before hens of which in my experience is totally false with both sexes, hens die due to harassment from the cock or egg binding.
The only other specie that i kept where the hens died for unknown reasons before the cock was Blue caps. An aviary with all males should be harmonious imo,it's the hens which get the hormones going in the cocks that causes the cocks to fight and sometimes to the death. Craig

[Shane Gowland]

For a reason I've never been able to figure out, I breed 70-80% hens. Therefore those that die are also 70-80% hens.

Would I have less losses if I bred equal gendered or male dominant clutches? Can't say.

[matcho]

They all die, just at different times under different circumstances. The hens have a much more strenuous life story than the cocks. Like me and you. Nothing is immortal. So the ratio in my way of thinking is 100 percent for each.

Put it this way, if you have 5 pairs, all first year then maybe there will be some fatalities with hens through egg binding, but if plenty of eggshell, seed soaked in cod liver and wheat germ oil will assist. After 5 or so years they will just about all be gone. Those that are not are not worth a cracker as breeders.

Sure, keep all cock birds, look nice fully coloured but in all reality I think their life span could be shortened because they dont have to opportunity to do what comes naturally.

Just my thoughts


Ken.

[matcho]

For a reason I've never been able to figure out, I breed 70-80% hens. Therefore those that die are also 70-80% hens.

Would I have less losses if I bred equal gendered or male dominant clutches? Can't say.

It is all math Shane...simple. If you bred 50% of each then by my way of thinking it may get closer to even. I had one year I bred to 2 to 1 hens and that was a bonus at sale time. Following year even numbers then the following year a majority of cocks. It is all a game. But I find it interesting as to how you would propose to breed "equal gendered or male dominant clutches". That would be the Holy Grail.


Ken

[Shane Gowland]

Nothing is immortal. So the ratio in my way of thinking is 100 percent for each.

Oh hey there, fellow existentialist!

It is all math Shane...simple. If you bred 50% of each then by my way of thinking it may get closer to even.

I would hesitantly agree with you.

However, I don't think the math is all that simple. There is no way to know whether 'gender' is a dependent or independent variable to death. 80% of my losses are female, because 80% of my offspring are female. If the offspring gender ratios were normalized (I think that's the right word, I'm not a statistics guy), the percentage of female deaths could either drop to 50% or stay the same (due to some inherent weakness in females) and my overall rate of death would drop - because proportionally there are now less females.

Perhaps even more likely, changing the gender ratio would have a completely random impact on death rates; because the correlation we observe between gender and death is actually driven mostly by disease outbreaks and weather patterns that we can't possibly predict.

Anyway, I've overthought this and my head hurts.

But I find it interesting as to how you would propose to breed "equal gendered or male dominant clutches". That would be the Holy Grail.

Cloning.