Trends in in ovo sexing technologies: insights and interpretation from papers and patents

Table 1 Advantages and disadvantages of the current situation in the laying hen industry versus in ovo sexing

	Current situation		In ovo sexing
	Advantages	Disadvantages	Advantages	Disadvantages
Consumer	Low prices	Unethical	Ethical	Higher prices
Industry	Selling corpses as feed	Gruesome working conditions No profit on male chicks	Ethical Re-purposing culled eggs Incubator space optimization	High investments
Male chicks	NA	Naturalness infringement^a Pain and stress	No/less pain or stress	Possible pain perception depending on incubation day
Environment	Efficient production No waste	More energy necessary for incubation	Lower electricity consumption	Consumables waste

Information adapted from Bruijnis et al. [1]
NA Non-applicable
^aNaturalness is one of the Five Freedoms in animal welfare, in which an animal should be allowed to demonstrate their animal behavior [11]. With culling male chicks, this possibility is not given to the male chicks. The culling is closely related to the lack of animal integrity the sector gives these male chicks, rendering as a non-ethical practice

ISSN: 2049-1891