Hatchery equipment company HatchTech secured an agreement with supermarket chain REWE Group to take full ownership of joint ventures SELEGGT and respeggt on September 30, 2022. HatchTech hopes to accelerate the two group’s international growth by utilizing its established network in the industry.
SELEGGT and respeggt were founded by HatchTech and REWE Group in 2017 and 2019, respectively. As of now, seven gender identification machines are installed and operational globally.
In July 2022, German genetics company Lohmann Deutschland’s announced that a SELEGGT machine would be installed in its Ankum facility. Using the technology, 3-million-layer chicks will be hatched through the system annually. The installation will be especially important due to the practice of culling male chicks having been banned in Germany at the beginning of 2022.
Tjitze Meter, HatchTech Founder and CEO, stated: “Our collaboration with REWE Group has been vital in establishing SELEGGT and respeggt, particularly in the German market. Together, we completed the start-up phase for these ventures, and have put a strong technology foundation in place. With a continuous strong focus on research and development, we are ready to further develop our offerings. This next stage will allow us to bring SELEGGT and respeggt eggs to a global audience.”
The “Free of chick culling” technology
SELEGGT’s process is focused on preventing male chick culling through gender identification in hatching eggs. Female hatching eggs contain a gender hormone called estrone sulphate in the allantoic fluid, located within an embryological membrane, the allantois.
After a sample of allantoic fluid is collected through a miniscule hole from each egg on day nine of incubation, the hole is sealed with beeswax to reduce contamination. After the fluid sample is analyzed using a patented marker, the marker’s color change will identify the sex of the chick depending on if the gender hormone was present or not, allowing producers to separate males from females before hatch.
