Roost is an egg-scanning device that inspects fertilized chicken eggs for their gender. Created for egg hatcheries, Roost is geared to address the controversial issue of chick culling, an industry practice where male chicks are euthanized via grinder, asphyxiation, or electrocution because they cannot lay eggs and are redundant to the industry. Roost offers a more ethical solution with in-ovo sexing abilities to isolate male eggs before they hatch. Specifically with advancements in laser spectroscopy and the use of a carefully calibrated nitrogen laser, an egg's electron activity can be stimulated to determine its gender. This enables eggs to be isolated for more utilitarian purposes, such as influenza vaccinations, food, shampoo, and much more.
Roost can be placed either in front of a hatchery loading platform or over conveyor belt. One arm of Roost houses laser spectroscopy scanners while the other arm has selective clamping mechanisms that isolate eggs scanned to be male.
