A New Level of Feather Sexing

One of the most time consuming and expensive parts of the poultry production process is undoubtedly sexing of chicks. Accuracy is critical, so that the correct sex of bird is placed. Scientists in Germany are developing a test that will eliminate the old standby methods of vent and traditional feather sexing. These methods can be stressful on the birds, the new test would be minimally stressful to the birds. The Scientists propose to use tissue pulp from a birds feather in a lab apparatus to instantly and with minimal stress determine with 95% accuracy the gender of the bird. If this test works out and can be made cheap enough so that industry can utilize it, it could change the poultry industry.