Ratios of commercial chicks

Currently, over 200 million chicks are killed in commercial poultry industries annually because they are the "wrong" sex. UGA poultry scientists have found that treatment with two hormones, testosterone and corticosterone, effectively skews the sex ratios of chicks towards males (up to 80 percent male chicks). However, hormone treatments are prohibited by the FDA. Thus, through proposed work funded by the National Science Foundation, they are currently working to identify gene targets involved in the process to produce a non-hormone method to alter avian sex ratios. If they can find a method to skew the sexes of chicks towards the preferred sex, this would save millions of dollars for the industry and reduce associated welfare concerns.