Document type : news item from the OABA website
Preview: A practice that is legal in Europe
Male chicks born in the egg-production sector are of no interest to current poultry farming processes: they do not produce eggs and have little capacity for the growth required for meat production. For these reasons, they are systematically culled at birth after a "sexing" exercise to enable their separation from the females. In the foie gras sector, on the other hand, it is the female ducklings that are culled, as their livers are said to be less suitable and less heavy than those of the males.
The two procedures that are permitted for the culling of chicks and ducklings are set out in EU Directive 93/119/EC: "by an apparatus which contains rapidly rotating mechanically operated killing blades or expanded polystyrene projections" or by "exposure to carbon dioxide".
The only mechanical process to be continued in France under the Order of 12 December 1997 was "a mechanical apparatus which contains expanded polystyrene projections". This device with polystyrene projections, which was less traumatic than blades, had been developed with the help of the OABA.
These practices upset the consuming public on ethical grounds. A law recently passed in Germany will ban the slaughter of male chicks from 2022. France also plans to cease this practice at that date but has not yet passed any legislation on the subject. It should be remembered that every year 50 million chicks are culled in France and the same number in Germany. Finally, in Switzerland, the maceration of chicks has been banned as of 1 January 2020, but their slaughter using carbon dioxide remains authorised.
Alternative farming methods
An alternative to the disposal of live chicks is the rearing of the 'hens' brothers'. This practice consists of keeping male chicks born in the egg-production sector and raising them for their meat. This practice is still not widely found today, although some markets are beginning to emerge.
Another possibility would be to breed so-called "dual strains". These are crosses between laying and meat strains. The females are bred for laying and the males for meat. These strains are bred in the German organic sector, for example.
Sexing of eggs
Methods are also being developed to detect the sex of the chick in the egg, allowing eggs containing male chicks to be screened out before hatching. Two techniques are currently in use:
- Spectrophotometry: on the 13th day after laying, a camera analyses the embryo's first feathers which differ in colour according to sex. Eggs containing future males are marked, discarded and destroyed before hatching. Those containing future females hatch into laying hens.
- Endocrinology: on the 9th day after laying, the egg shell is perforated with a laser. A serum sample is taken and then brought into contact with particular reagents. Analysis makes it possible to identify whether hormones are male or female. The male eggs are then removed from the hatchery and destroyed, while the females remain in situ until they hatch.
