If you would like to increase your family and have a son, you could be wondering when the best time to conceive a boy is. There are always various old wives tales going around, very few of which have any basis in scientific fact. However, in amongst all these myths, you may sometimes find a little gem of information which could be the thing to help you tip the balance in favor of having a boy.

One excellent tip to get you started is to consider the timing of intercourse. Out of all the various hints and tips, this is one of the most important as the very nature of male and female sperm means that timing can be paramount. However, it is important to bear in mind that practitioners who recommend methods of natural gender selection will almost always advocate using a combination of methods to give you the best possible chance of success and that knowing the best time to conceive a boy is just one aspect-albeit a very important one!

Some practitioners who recommend natural gender selection boast a success rate of over 95% and there is indeed evidence to suggest that this might be the case. However, even they will admit that they cannot accurately determine which of their recommendations have been the "one" which has resulted in a successful outcome and for this reason alone, it is best not to rely on just one method.

Just looking at the aspect of timing, the best time to conceive a boy is by having intercourse as close to ovulation as possible. Male sperm is fast--moving, but is not very robust and cannot survive for more than a day or so. Female sperm, on the other hand, can live for two to three days and is much more robust.

What this means is that if you have intercourse a day or two before ovulation, the male sperm is very likely to have died before the release of the egg, leaving the more robust female sperm ready and waiting to fertilize. However, if you have intercourse on the day of ovulation itself, then it becomes more of a straightforward "race" and one which the male sperm is most likely to win. Obviously, the success of a method like this is completely dependent on knowing your ovulation pattern and as precision here is the key, I would recommend using an ovulation prediction kit rather than relying on counting the days.