CHICK SEXING

Evening Star, Issue 22464, 8 October 1936, Page 1

CHICK SEXING

DUNEDIN RESIDENT'S EXPERI- ■ MENtS -Attention has been attracted l to tho much-debated question of chick sexing by a Government announcement that, provided there are at least four candidates offering at each centre, the Department of Agriculture is prepared to control chick-sexing examinations at Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. It is expected that Dunedin will have its turn also, when chicks to sex are more numerous. During the past few years a number of poultry enthusiasts have been exSenmenting in this direction in the lominion, one of whom, Mr V. Lynch, resides in Dunedin. A keen follower of the hobby for a long time, he has been engaged in the question of sex determination for approximately 10 years, and although he has not yet arrived at his ultimate aim (to determine the sex of a chicken before hatching), he has made considerable progress. One Japanese expert in New Zealand at the present time is sexing dayold chickens, hut, as far as is known,there is no person in the Dominion able to sex unhatched eggs by a scientific process. Mr Lynch, during his studies on the question, has even obtained sex-indicators from England, all of which proved a failure. His experiments have led him to discover a method whereby he .can determine whether an egg is fertile or not prior to incubation, which is considered a very progressive step towards the ultimate goal. By a process of elimination he tested the soundness of his work, placing what he considered fertile eggs with unfertile eggs, with satisfactory results. A seven-days’ incubator test revealed 100 per cent, fertility. Mr Lynch believes that the process which he uses in determining the fertility will eventually, if applied correctly, go a long way towards sex determination before the hatching of the eggs, and thus save poultry people a great deal of unnecessary expense.