U.S. Egg Industry Moves To End Male Chick Culling With New Technology

The U.S. egg industry kills approximately 350 million male chicks annually because they cannot lay eggs and hold little monetary value, Scott McFetridge reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Despite increased awareness around cage-free and free-range eggs, many consumers remain unaware of the widespread culling of male chicks.

This long-standing practice is being phased out with the introduction of new technology that allows hatcheries to identify male embryos in fertilized eggs and process them for other uses before they mature into chicks.

This system became operational this month at the largest chick hatchery in the U.S., located in Iowa, which handles roughly 387,000 eggs daily.

“We now have ethically produced eggs we can really feel good about,” said Jörg Hurlin, managing director of Agri Advanced Technologies, the German company behind the development of the SUV-sized machine that performs the embryo-sexing process.

Despite increased awareness around cage-free and free-range eggs, many consumers remain unaware of the widespread culling of male chicks, often conducted through maceration—a process that uses rotating blades to kill the chicks instantaneously.

While the practice has been defended by the industry as the most humane method available, it remains unsettling to many.

“Does the animal suffer? No, because it’s instantaneous death,” said Suzanne Millman, a professor of animal welfare at Iowa State University. “But it’s not pretty because it’s a series of rotating blades.”