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Please select the following reviews on
"The Specialist Chick Sexer":
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Australiasian
Poultry (Extract: 'Volume 6 No.2 Aug/Sep 1995')
By Bill Stanhope
A book on chick sexing - not exactly
your first choice for bedtime reading! Surely
it would he a rather narrow subject even for poultry
keepers and breeders? While this might be your
initial reaction you would be completely wrong.
Firstly, the book is a fascinating
history of chick sexing from its early development
in Japan in the 1920s, its spread throughout the
world in the 1930s via Japanese sexers, the challenge
to vent sexing in the 1960s by the new chick sexing
machine, to the even greater challenge of today
by company geneticists with their sex-linked crosses.
The history is even more readable
in that it contains delightful pen pictures of
the men and women who took on this unusual occupation,
and of the early hatcherymen. The book is sprinkled
with personal histories and many amusing anecdotes.
Some stories like the leg-less chick sexer, already
married, who arranged for his two other "wives"
to he married as a man and woman - an exercise
which landed him in jail - made headlines in the
tabloid press of the day. The many photographs
complement these stories.
Obviously the book covers the technical
aspects of both vent and machine sexing in detail,
with excellent illustrations and instructions.
It also covers the sexing schools in Japan, England
and other countries. The book also covers
the sexing of other avian species such as turkeys,
ducks, game birds, ostriches, emus and even parrots.
The book presents a complete worldview
of chick sexing and concludes with the future
prospects of chick sexing into the next century.
The Specialist Chick Sexer is a
highly readable, professionally written history
book. The reason is that the author R.D.- (Bob)
Martin is a professional writer of magazine articles,
short stories, essays and editorials.
The book is well researched. The
author interviewed dozens of Australian sexers,
contacted chick sexing associations, commercial
sexing services and university authorities in
Japan, China, Korea, the United Kingdom, Europe
and the United States. He researched old poultry
magazines back to the 1930s, stored at the public
library in Melbourne.
A forward by Hitoshi Miyata, Executive
Director of the Zen-Nippon Chick Sexing Association,
who predicts a continued future for the profession
of specialist chick sexing.
Bob Martin is to be congratulated
for his hard work in documenting this fascinating
story from the poultry industry. It will be a
valuable historical record. The book can be confidently
recommended to this magazines readers, and is
a 'must" for the serious collector of poultry
books and for libraries.
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An extract
from 'Burke's Backyard' (A top rating national television
program in Australia) Melbourne
man, Bob Martin, has spent a lifetime studying
and practicing vent-sexing. His book, 'The Specialist
Chick Sexer' is a fascinating documentation of
this obscure but vital quest for technical accuracy
His book explains how poultry farmers
once waited until chicks were five to six weeks
old before differentiating male and female. This
became visible when adult feathers started appearing
and cockerels (males) developed feathers from
pullets (hens). But for commercial egg production
it's important to keep females and not feed males
unnecessarily.
In 1924 three Japanese scientists
developed a technique for determining the sex
of hatchling investigating the chicken's vent
(rear end). In 1933 the first Japanese chick sexers
arrived in North America to train locals in the
new technique. In 1934 they went to Australia
to sex chickens and teach Australians the technique.
In 1935 the Japanese experts went to Europe to
sex commercially and teach others.
Mr. Martin's book describes the
technique, which involves close examination of
the chicken's cloaca, which is a common external
opening for the digestive, urinary and reproductive
tract. The sexer looks for a degenerate penis,
which all males chicks have but also 15% females
have also. The skill comes in determining the
sex of this 15% female. It sounds simple, but
in fact requires great concentration, accuracy,
long hours of training and practice, practice,
practice and examination for errors.
Our segment featured two top chicken
sexers, Mr. Hartley Hall, one of the original
chicken sexers trained by the Japanese in the
early 1930's, and Mr. Frank Evans, considered
one of Australia's all-time top sexers, and teachers.
The value to the industry and the
skill required is recognised and Mr. Martin said
top sexers may earn $400 - $700 a day plus expenses.
A fair day's work could see 5000 - 7000 chicks
sexed.
'The Specialist Chick Sexer' is
also a record of the importance the discovery
made to the poultry industry worldwide. The book
is available from Bernal Publishing 4 Frank Street
Box Hill South Vic. 3128 Australia.
© Burke's Backyard 1998
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Department
of Vocational Education and Training, University
of Melbourne 1997 My interest
in this book is because chicken sexing has been
touted as an excellent example of a tacit (hidden
inarticulate) workplace skill which represent
significant experimental learning. In philosophy
as well as education, it is often used in this
way. Fry-stone walling (e.g. around Collect in
western Victoria) is another similar skill. So
when I saw the book at the Show I just had to
read it.
Others Quotes
I particularly enjoyed the interviews with the
pros in the field. Things have changed greatly
from the early days of hatching, when there was
no way to distinguish cockerels from pullets until
they started growing their adult plumage.
Karen Black, from Oregon, USA
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