The world's first low-cost in-ovo sexing solution to finally end chick culling

ongoing

Omegga - World’s first low-cost in-ovo sexing solution to finally end chick culling In the egg-laying hen industry, over 7 billion day-old roosters are killed each year, because male layer chickens neither lay eggs nor produce enough meat to be profitable. Omegga developed a cost-effective, non-invasive, spectral imaging solution for automating sex detection of chicken embryos in the eggs to avoid the unethical practice of chick culling by enabling hatcheries to remove early male eggs from incubators and only hatch female-layer chicks. The Omegga technology is based on absorption spectroscopy and tracks sex specific biological indicators (proprietary method), enabling cost-effective, non-invasive, automated determination of an egg's sex. The solution aligns with ethical practices, supports sustainable farming, and meets emerging regulatory requirements against male chick culling. Our team of 9 entrepreneurs, SW/HW/Bio engineers, data scientists and veterinarian developed the technology, and built & tested a first, small scale industrial prototype. Now we must create large scale prototypes for full automation and optimise classification algorithms to minimise costs, for which we need EIC support. Once implemented, it will boost resource efficiency and animal welfare in the poultry industry.