In ovo sexing, technology that identifies a chick’s sex before hatching to avoid culling male chicks, has reached about 40% market penetration in the European Union in five years. The question now is whether it can scale in the United States and other regions where there is no regulatory push.
While adoption has accelerated in Europe, where multiple countries have banned or restricted male chick culling, many consumers still do not realize the egg sector destroys billions of male chicks annually because they do not lay eggs and are not efficient to raise for meat. Today, hatcheries incubate eggs for 21 days, hire specialists to sort newly hatched chicks by sex, and then eliminate roughly half the flock. The model is ethically fraught and economically wasteful, yet current in-ovo systems still cost more than the savings from reclaimed incubator space, so someone in the chain must pay a premium for the technology.
According to United Egg Producers, which represents 90% of US egg output, cost sensitivity is a major barrier in a high-inflation environment. UEP says it is committed to adopting in-ovo systems at commercial scale when they are economically and operationally feasible. At an April panel during the PEAK Conference, UEP senior vice president Dr. Larry Sadler noted that the group created the Hatch Check certification to verify in-ovo technologies, but convincing shoppers to pay more for a largely unknown animal-welfare problem remains difficult. Retailers also caution that egg cartons are already crowded with claims.
Rapid adoption in Europe, premium segment interest in the US, Brazil, Australia
Regulatory action has driven change in Europe. Germany and France have banned culling, Austria has added restrictions, and Italy plans a phaseout by 2027. The European Commission intends to propose revised poultry welfare rules by the end of 2026 targeting the systematic killing of male chicks.
Outside legal mandates, Switzerland and Norway have seen wide uptake, covering more than 85% and 52% of layer flocks respectively, while the Netherlands has pursued a phaseout through industry, animal-welfare, and government collaboration.
Beyond Europe, Brazil is expanding in-ovo sexing through a partnership involving AAT, Raiar Orgânicos, and Hy-Line do Brasil. In Australia, Specialized Breeders Australia installed AAT’s Cheggy system in May, with McLean Farms planning to launch eggs from the process later this year. In the United States, producers overseeing more than 4% of the national layer flock, including NestFresh, Vital Farms, Kipster, and Sauder’s Eggs, are transitioning as their flocks retire, with installations from Orbem, AAT/Cheggy, and Seleggt.
What will move the needle for in ovo sexing?
According to Innovate Animal Ag, Europe’s momentum is strong and US specialty brands are adopting the technology without legal compulsion. Broad adoption in commodity eggs likely depends on cost parity with manual sexing, and costs have already declined since the first rollouts. New approaches could also shift economics, including work by CSIRO and Hendrix Genetics on a gene-editing method to mark male embryos at point of lay for rapid, pre-incubation identification.
Consumer awareness in the US may grow as premium labels reference in-ovo practices. Another factor could be agentic shopping, in which AI agents surface products aligning with a buyer’s values, potentially helping companies recover costs for animal-welfare improvements without shoppers needing deep agricultural knowledge.
“Five years ago this was a germ of an idea in a handful of hatcheries. Today it’s the standard across over a third of Europe.” — Robert Yaman, Innovate Animal Ag
The state of play: sex determination techniques
Current in-ovo sex determination approaches fall into five categories. Two are commercial today:
Non-invasive imaging (commercialized): Visualizing inside the shell to determine sex.
- AAT/Cheggy uses hyperspectral imaging to read feather color around day 11 to 13 and works with brown eggs.
- Canadian Egg Technologies, MatrixSpec Solutions, and SANOVO Technology Group also use hyperspectral imaging and say they can sex white and brown layers by day four, with a global launch targeted for late 2026 or early 2027.
- Orbem combines artificial intelligence with MRI to detect sex-specific organ development at day 11 or 12.
- Omegga captures spectroscopic images inside incubators at the end of day six, avoiding egg removal for sexing.
Allantoic sampling (commercialized): Extracting a small fluid sample to test for biomarkers.
- HatchTech/SelEggt determines sex on day nine using PCR DNA analysis.
- In Ovo, a Dutch startup that analyzed allantoic metabolites by mass spectrometry, exited the market after previous fundraises; its Belgian subsidiary was liquidated in 2025.
Volatile analysis (in development): Detecting sex-specific volatiles emitted through the shell.
Genetic editing (in development): Introducing a male-only genetic marker to enable non-invasive, rapid sexing before incubation, so females entering the food chain are not genetically modified.
Sex reversal (on pause): SOOS Technology developed sex-switching techniques but ceased operations in 2024 due to lack of funds.
AAT/Cheggy: High throughput, brown layers only
AAT’s CEO Jörg Hurlin acknowledges its hyperspectral imaging works only with brown layers but notes that France, Spain, and Italy are predominantly brown-egg markets, and premium eggs in many regions are typically brown. He says Cheggy offers high throughput and is the cheapest available option, with deployments across Europe, the United States, Brazil, and Australia.
Hatcheries prioritize throughput, accuracy, ease of use, and compact footprints that fit existing facilities, he adds. While demand inquiries are growing from India, Africa, and South Korea, US retailers are not willing to pay extra. In Italy, where culling will be banned in 2027, uncertainty remains because day-old chicks could still be imported from countries that allow culling. AAT is researching earlier, day-zero solutions but says current options do not yet meet market requirements for speed, accuracy, cost, and reliability.
Orbem: Making MRI work at hatchery speed
Orbem, which opened a Texas office last year, is expanding in the US with a second installation now live and a third planned for 2027 after projects in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Norway. The Netherlands presents complexities, the firm says, because many hatcheries already use in-ovo systems to serve Germany, but Dutch retailers have resisted paying a roughly one-cent-per-egg premium.
The nation’s export profile also weighs on universal adoption. Orbem sees momentum in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, with discussions progressing slowly in the UK.
By pairing MRI with AI, Orbem says it can capture and analyze images in under a second with 99.5% accuracy, making MRI viable on industrial lines. Its modular platform scales from about one million females annually to 24,000 eggs per hour. The company uses a pay-per-use model, installing and maintaining equipment while delivering the service, though some facilities may need space or utility upgrades.
HatchTech/SelEggt: ‘DNA does not lie’
HatchTech’s DNA-based system first uses SetGate to remove infertile or non-viable eggs with accuracy above 99.9%, then samples viable eggs for PCR analysis. The process delivers up to 49% female yield with accuracy above 99.5%, and the firm says the minimally invasive approach has negligible impact on hatchability or chick quality.
A SelEggt line can process up to 33 million eggs annually with two employees, integrates into existing hatcheries without added electrical infrastructure, and can reduce setter needs.
Omegga: Can a later entrant leapfrog the incumbents?
Omegga uses spectroscopic imaging to monitor development inside incubators and says it can reliably sex before day seven, earlier than rivals that generally operate between day nine and 13. The company recently raised a €10 million seed round and claims throughput up to 50,000 eggs per hour, with fully autonomous scanning that is designed to be cost efficient and scalable from one to many incubators.
In the US, where hatcheries are far larger than in Europe, Omegga argues that earlier, higher-throughput solutions are essential. The company is running four machines at German hatchery Gut Averfeld and is building out a second site.
Omegga also points to a potential outlet for male eggs in vaccine manufacturing, where embryonated eggs are inoculated around day 9 to 12. Earlier sexing could align supply with that timeline, creating higher-value uses than animal feed.
Who pays? US brands wrestle with the in-ovo premium
NestFresh vice president Mike Sencer said European site visits prompted the company to work with Hy-Line on in-ovo sexing. Because NestFresh focuses on brown eggs, AAT’s Cheggy fit its needs. The company pays a premium but is not passing it to consumers for now, viewing the humanely hatched label as a brand benefit and expecting costs to drop over time.
Vital Farms is also partnering with Hy-Line and AAT/Cheggy, with in-ovo chicks expected to arrive at farms in early 2027 and most hens coming from this process by 2028. The company is not currently passing costs to farmers, customers, or consumers.
Kipster USA works with Hendrix Genetics and HatchTech’s SelEggt system, initially covering costs itself and now planning how to allocate them as it prepares a brand launch in early 2027. Kipster says broader uptake beyond premium eggs will require higher consumer awareness and clear sales impact, but it will keep using the technology to avoid culling where raising males for consumption is not feasible.
In ovo sexing at a crossroads
Europe’s mix of regulation and industry coordination has pushed rapid deployment, while premium brands in the US, Brazil, and Australia are carving out early markets. For mass-market US adoption, costs must fall, speed must rise, and value must be clear to retailers and consumers.
Emerging approaches, including earlier optical methods and pre-incubation gene editing, could determine how quickly in ovo sexing becomes standard practice worldwide. For broader context on how agricultural technology shifts are playing out, see USDA unveils tech and policy moves at Farm Progress Show.