Requirements

Ambitious goals

The possible methods for sex determination in the egg must meet numerous requirements*:

• Early: The sex of the embryo must be determined as early as possible, i.e. before the embryo develops its sensitivity to pain.
• Safe: The procedure must be able to determine the sex with a very high level of accuracy in order for very few female embryos to be sorted out and/or males are hatched.
• Fast: The determination of the sex in the machine must not only be reliable, but also done very quickly in order to meet the needs of hatcheries in everyday practice.
• No negative effects: The entire technical method should not have any negative effects on the development of the embryos and the hatching rate related to the same, nor to the productivity of the adult hen.
• Utilisation of the sorted eggs: The (male) eggs sorted out in the process should be usable, for example as feed or in the cosmetic industry.
• Cost-effective: The machine should be operated efficiently so that the additional costs of sex determination remain as low as possible.
• Acceptance: The process must be accepted by the general public and the consumer as a trend-setting approach that helps to solve the problem of culling day-old male chicks, thereby supporting animal welfare.

(* according to Kaleta und Redmann, 2008)