>”In countries where killing has been made illegal, male chicks are often exported. They end up in places where they are kept alive as cheaply as possible and often under poor conditions, just long enough for them to be legally slaughtered, at which point they are often used to make products like pet food. So from an animal welfare perspective, the bans are no solution,” says Rutt, who, together with research colleague Jostein Jakobsen from the University of Oslo, [studied](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/25148486221131195) the ongoing and emerging alternatives to chick culling coming from the biotech sector.
Keep in mind, it’s an industry with a profit motive in a competitive area – so being skeptical about seemingly costly processes makes sense.
I worked 2 summers in a french hatchery, males were gazed (killed after put to sleep) and then sent not far away to ”Le puy du fou” to feed birds of prey.
in 2022, new machines came to scan eggs to detect male from female after few days incubating (before they can feel anything). If male, it is killed with a little electrifying needle then crushed like tomato soup (really). Now we can’t feed the birds but have to send it to Netherlands we’re they know what to with with this juice.
edit : (juice is transformed to feed other animals)
Bro, they’re chicken. Why would anyone ban this
I didn’t know we had banned that practice. Good news.
Edit: so apparently it just means they’re exported to be slaughtered elsewhere. Not great.
Where the heck are we supposed to get animal protein for fur farms if this is banned? /s
I don’t understand the reason behind the ban. I get that they want to encourage cooperation between egg and meat producing companies but wouldn’t that happen naturally if it was profitable? Is it possible that it’s just easier and more cost effective to just slaughter them? If so, this ban is ridiculous.
There’s currently research going into sexing chickens before hatching. Some egg liquid is taken from a fertilized egg and the DNA extracted. Last time I checked was a few years ago. It is relatively fast but they’ve not got the automation down yet. Biggest positive is of course no more chick culling. Incentive for the industry is not having to incubate eggs that aren’t layers.
Chickens suffering inside overcrowded unhealthy prisons for weeks is acceptable but getting crushed to death is not? Crushed chicks become pet food. They don’t go to waste. Lastly poultry industry should stay competitive so we can afford chicken wings.
Just because it’s not banned does not mean everyone is culling them.
It’s just another pointless feel-good regulation that will only make things more expensive for the end consumer. Male chicks are killed since theyre useless both for egg production and meat (not as tasty). Female chicks not used for egg laying live for only a few weeks anyway before being [shipped to the processing facilities and killed off in a scalding hot water](https://youtu.be/T0E4VsR31hI?si=auCazJ2dMNOuamrK), but I guess thats fine since theyre no longer cute fluffy little hatchlings at that point.
I love my country. We ban basically everything but nobody gives a shit and we still do everything. Shit politicians.
16 comments
Source https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/banning-of-chick-culling?region=Europe
What is the reasoning behind banning? Can’t those chicks serve as say food for pets or something? How is it different from killing for meat?
what do they do with all the males?
tbh i think being an industrial farm animal hurts a lot over a long time, the grinder is the nicer thing to do
Saw this a couple of weeks ago: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG7QEcs3hWg&t=1283s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG7QEcs3hWg&t=1283s)
I wondered what happens to the male chicks with the ban in place. This source seems to imply it’s not exactly clear what’s happening :
[https://www.foodwatch.org/en/chick-killing-ban-where-have-all-the-cockerels-gone](https://www.foodwatch.org/en/chick-killing-ban-where-have-all-the-cockerels-gone)
edit: another source, with some worrisome implications
[https://science.ku.dk/english/press/news/2024/researcher-seven-billion-newly-hatched-chicks-are-killed-every-year–but-a-ban-is-not-the-solution/](https://science.ku.dk/english/press/news/2024/researcher-seven-billion-newly-hatched-chicks-are-killed-every-year–but-a-ban-is-not-the-solution/)
>”In countries where killing has been made illegal, male chicks are often exported. They end up in places where they are kept alive as cheaply as possible and often under poor conditions, just long enough for them to be legally slaughtered, at which point they are often used to make products like pet food. So from an animal welfare perspective, the bans are no solution,” says Rutt, who, together with research colleague Jostein Jakobsen from the University of Oslo, [studied](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/25148486221131195) the ongoing and emerging alternatives to chick culling coming from the biotech sector.
Keep in mind, it’s an industry with a profit motive in a competitive area – so being skeptical about seemingly costly processes makes sense.
I worked 2 summers in a french hatchery, males were gazed (killed after put to sleep) and then sent not far away to ”Le puy du fou” to feed birds of prey.
in 2022, new machines came to scan eggs to detect male from female after few days incubating (before they can feel anything). If male, it is killed with a little electrifying needle then crushed like tomato soup (really). Now we can’t feed the birds but have to send it to Netherlands we’re they know what to with with this juice.
edit : (juice is transformed to feed other animals)
Bro, they’re chicken. Why would anyone ban this
I didn’t know we had banned that practice. Good news.
Edit: so apparently it just means they’re exported to be slaughtered elsewhere. Not great.
Where the heck are we supposed to get animal protein for fur farms if this is banned? /s
I don’t understand the reason behind the ban. I get that they want to encourage cooperation between egg and meat producing companies but wouldn’t that happen naturally if it was profitable? Is it possible that it’s just easier and more cost effective to just slaughter them? If so, this ban is ridiculous.
There’s currently research going into sexing chickens before hatching. Some egg liquid is taken from a fertilized egg and the DNA extracted. Last time I checked was a few years ago. It is relatively fast but they’ve not got the automation down yet. Biggest positive is of course no more chick culling. Incentive for the industry is not having to incubate eggs that aren’t layers.
Chickens suffering inside overcrowded unhealthy prisons for weeks is acceptable but getting crushed to death is not? Crushed chicks become pet food. They don’t go to waste. Lastly poultry industry should stay competitive so we can afford chicken wings.
Just because it’s not banned does not mean everyone is culling them.
It’s just another pointless feel-good regulation that will only make things more expensive for the end consumer. Male chicks are killed since theyre useless both for egg production and meat (not as tasty). Female chicks not used for egg laying live for only a few weeks anyway before being [shipped to the processing facilities and killed off in a scalding hot water](https://youtu.be/T0E4VsR31hI?si=auCazJ2dMNOuamrK), but I guess thats fine since theyre no longer cute fluffy little hatchlings at that point.
I love my country. We ban basically everything but nobody gives a shit and we still do everything. Shit politicians.
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