Challenge

Challenge

Male chick extermination has severe animal welfare, economic, and environmental ramifications harming the public image of the egg industry.

Imagine a factory that throws away half of its production… this is how the layer industry operates: each year, commercial hatcheries worldwide produce 15 billion chicks: 7.5 billion are females who can lay eggs, and 7.5 billion are males who have no commercial use and are therefore exterminated after hatching.

 

As a result, the poultry industry is experiencing a growing regulatory pressure from government agencies and public scrutiny around the world. Starting 2022, the culling of male chicks in the layer industry is banned in Germany and France and soon – others will follow.

 

Moreover, large retailers such as Tesco, Aldi and RWE are leading efforts to push the transition into marketing eggs did not involve male-chick culling in their production process.

 

The production process of layers is not only a source of animal suffering but is also an environmentally and economically wasteful practice: the industry uses unnecessary energy, water, land, and labor to produce male chicks and creates an unnecessary carbon footprint in the process.