What is chick culling and why are male chicks killed?

There’s a common misconception that the egg industry doesn’t cause as much suffering as other areas of animal agriculture. Hens naturally lay eggs anyway, right?

The unnatural and often hidden truth is that egg production is far from victimless. Beyond the suffering of laying hens, around 40-45 million newly hatched male chicks are killed each year at the hands of the UK egg industry.

Why? The industry deems these baby animals unprofitable, simply because they are born male. Unable to lay eggs, they are considered useless. In the eyes of corporations, these innocent chicks are worth more dead than alive.

What Is Chick Culling?

Chickens can be culled (an industry term for killed) for a variety of reasons, including disease outbreaks, injuries and slow growth, or supply chain disruptions causing slaughterhouses to become backed-up.

However, one of the biggest reasons that chicks are killed is simply because they’re male.

When eggs hatch, the baby birds are sexed. Professional chicken sexers, trained to distinguish the sex of hatchlings at commercial hatcheries, quickly separate the 'pullets' (female chicks) from the 'cockerels' (male chicks). While the pullets will go on to lay eggs, the cockerels—unwanted and expendable—are quickly sent to their deaths.

The practice of culling male chicks within hours of being born has long faced criticism from animal rights advocates and members of the public. That pressure has pushed the development of new technologies that could bring about the end of the cruel practice. In a win for critics, those technological developments, combined with the gruesome nature of how chicks are killed, has also caused several countries to ban the practice.

Why are male chicks culled?

Male chicks are culled in the egg industry because they can’t lay eggs, so they are considered an useless byproduct.

In decades past, some male chicks were raised for their meat. But today, this is considered inefficient and uneconomical, as male birds of egg-laying breeds don’t grow as quickly or as large as modern broiler chickens.

From the producers’ point of view, male chicks are just not worth the cost of feeding and housing.

How Are Chicks Culled?

While there are different methods used to cull chicks, in the UK chicks are killed by gassing using argon gas.

The below are other methods, not used in the UK.

Suffocation Perhaps one of the most horrific methods of culling is via suffocation, typically carried out by trapping chicks in large plastic bags.

Electrocution When electrocution is used, chicks are subjected to a current and are shocked to death.

Cervical dislocation The method likely most traumatic for hatchery staff is cervical dislocation, which requires workers to manually snap the neck of each baby bird.

Maceration Maceration is widely considered an acceptable method of slaughtering chicks in egg production. There are two different types: crushing chicks with rollers, or mincing them with blades. In both cases, the chicks are fully conscious when they are put into the macerator.

How many chicks are culled?

Around 40-45 million chicks are culled in the UK every year, while 300 million chicks are culled annually in the US.

Despite these numbers, chick culling goes largely unnoticed by the British public. According to a survey conducted by Bryant Research, only 41% of respondents could correctly identify the fate of male chicks in the egg industry. The largest share - 42% - thought they are raised for meat, while other respondents believed they are kept with the females for companionship, or are sent to sanctuaries.

Meanwhile a whopping 82% of people surveyed were uncomfortable with the fate of male chicks once it was revealed.

Where Is Chick Culling Illegal?

Culling male chicks is standard practice in the egg industry across the UK, and much of the rest of the world. Though most chicks culled in the UK are killed with argon gas, eggs from countries that macerate or electrocute chicks can be imported for sale in the UK.

In 2023, the UK was accepted into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, an international trade agreement that includes major egg producers Mexico and Japan. This agreement further opens up British supermarkets to eggs laid elsewhere, raising concerns regarding animal welfare.

As more and more people learn about the horrors of chick culling, countries have started taking steps to end it.

France and Germany have now banned the culling of male chicks. However, in France, producers have gained permission to keep culling male chicks born to white hens - because their gender is harder to determine. This represents over 10% of male chicks born in France and means millions of chicks will still be culled in the country each year.

Can the egg industry avoid hatching male chicks?

Emerging technology could potentially cut the number of male chicks culled to zero, with researchers currently approaching the problem from two different directions.

While some scientists are seeking to genetically modify hens to only lay female eggs, others have already successfully introduced in-ovo egg sexing that allows sex to be determined before the egg hatches. While sexing based on egg shape - which has an 80% accuracy rate - has already been possible for some time, tech companies are looking at the problem from new and innovative perspectives, to be able to determine sex as early as nine days after being laid.

Alternatively, Soos Technology scientists are working on tech that would eliminate male eggs altogether, by encouraging embryos to all develop as females. The tech company Volcani is producing layer hens that have been genetically engineered so that any eggs with male embryos simply don’t develop.

How to Stop Chick Culling and What You Can Do

The technology to stop chick culling within the egg industry already exists, but the UK has been slow to follow in the footsteps of other European nations that have banned the practice.

Chicks are also not the only victims of this cruel practice. Culling animals has also been linked to the development of PTSD in workers.

To help stop chick culling, the best thing you can do is stop eating eggs. Regardless of how eggs are farmed - whether cage-free, free range, or Red Lion stamped - you can assume that male chicks were culled in their production.

Thankfully, giving up eggs doesn’t mean giving up all your favourite foods, as there are an abundance of replacements to make everything from cakes to meringue.

Choosing not to eat eggs doesn’t just help baby birds, but also helps their sisters, too. Most layer hens in the UK are subjected to unimaginable suffering, including being confined to cages and forced to lay so many eggs that their bones break.

How can I help?

You can help stop the suffering across the egg industry by joining us and taking action in our campaigns. Together, we can create real change.

Sign this petition to tell the UK Governments that they must ban cages for all laying hens by 2026.