Echo Online / FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2005
... eager vent sexers meet at the Annual All-Japan Chick Sexing Championship to compete for the chicken sexing title. The competition begins with each contender sitting anxiously before a crate of one hundred new hatchlings. All at once, they pick up a chick, flip it over, and speedily determine its sex. The current record is three minutes and six seconds, which converts to an impressive 1,935 chicks per hour. ....
....called "vent sexing," is a hands-on technique that has a high accuracy rate for experienced sexers. Sexers must first pick up the chick and gently squeeze it to allow any excrement to empty from the vent. After that, he will be able to examine the area and locate the eminence organ (or lack thereof)......
...geneticists have been able to produce chickens that can be sexed by sight alone, the need for vent sexers is quickly becoming obsolete. In fact, the number of such employees in Japan has decreased drastically, forcing those who remained in the profession to suffer serious pay cuts....
...As Hirokazu Myroya, this year's championship vent sexer stated, "We [still] need to pass along these skills to the next generation."
<---Vent sexing
