Killing day-old male chicks is a common practice in the egg industry that raises serious ethical concerns. Following pressure, Norway´s largest supplier of laying hens has introduced modern technology to do away with this controversial practice.
Male chicks are considered unwanted by the egg industry. The most common method of disposing of male chicks is maceration. Whereby the day-old chicks are placed into a machine that grinds them up alive. In Norway alone, over 3,5 million day-old male chicks are killed every year in this way. Several European countries, such as Germany, France and Italy, have already introduced laws intending to ban this unethical procedure.
Following pressure from the Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance in 2022, a parliamentary majority of six political parties called for research to end maceration in Norway.
– The general public has showed a great interest in our campaigns on this issue, and the political parties responded accordingly, says CEO at the Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance, zoologist Anton Krag.
One year on we are glad to see that the companies Steinsland & Co in collaboration with Nortura have introduced new technology. CEO at Steinsland & Co, Tone Steinsland, says in a statement that lately many people have approached them, including the authorities, with questions about when they can use new technology to avoid culling of day-old chicks.
Steinsland & Co represent 2/3 of the laying hen marked in Norway. They conclude that the technology is now effective enough to supply the whole Norwegian marked with “Free of Chick culling” eggs.
The Norwegian Protection Alliance will follow the development closely as Steinsland & Co are phasing in their use of technology. So far some chickens will be macerated and some will be sorted out at an early stage while still in the egg.
The SELEGGT technology, developed by the Dutch company “The respeggt group”, makes it possible to determine the sex of the chick embryo from day 9 of incubation. The newest research on the topic suggests that the chicken embryo starts to feel pain no earlier than 13 days of incubation. Sorting eggs – instead of killing live male-chicks – will therefore have a huge positive impact on animal welfare for millions of individuals.
The Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance hopes that the development in Norway can inspire other countries. Little male chicks are grinded to death all over the world in large numbers.
– Our aim is to stop all maceration in this country, so that the relatively small Norwegian market can act as an inspiration to others. We will now encourage other Norwegian companies to do the same as Steinsland & Co, and continue our pressure until maceration becomes history, says SEO at the Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance, Anton Krag.
