Nearly 50 percent of pullets, especially in Southern Europe, became victims of Marek’s disease until LOHMANN developed a vaccine against this virus.

Sexing of chicks used to be difficult. LOHMANN inserted a gene in one parent line which causes the wing feathers of male chicks to grow slower than in females.

Fishy odor in eggs is due to a gene defect in brown egg layers. Five to ten percent of hens show this gene defect. LOHMANN scientists developed a testing procedure and eliminated the problem by rigorous selection.