Chick sexing - a $60,000-a-year job nobody seems to want

The job of chick sexing is paid ￡40,000 ($61,300) a year in UK but still does not have many takers. [Photo/Agencies]

The difficulty in finding people willing to work as chick sexers, dividing newborn chicks into males and females, has become a headache for British poultry farmers, although they would be paid handsomely, up to ￡40,000 ($59,392) a year.

Potential sexers have to stare at newly-hatched chicks' backsides all day to determine their gender, squeezing out the faeces and opening up the anal vent to check for a small 'bump' that indicates it is male.

Each worker is expected to sort 800-1,200 chicks an hour, with a 97-98 percent accuracy rate. It takes three years to train fully for the role, which requires high levels of dexterity and good eyesight.

Despite the high salary, there are only 100 to 150 chick sexers working in the UK and not a single one was recruited last year, resulting in a shortage of exports. The country is mulling allowing farmers to recruit from outside the European Union from countries such as South Korea, where chick sexing is considered a high status job.