The Daily Grind?
What really happens to male chicks? What happens to male chicks in the egg industry? Why can’t they be used in meat production? Are they really ground up or boiled alive, like many vegan advocates claim? Coming into this blog post, I had no idea how to answer any of these questions. My experience is with cattle and pigs, poultry is a completely different ballgame. Making it worse, there is a great lack of reliable sources discussing this issue online. Huffington Post, Mercy For Animals, and the always-enjoyable PETA journalists were the loudest voices portraying the fate of young male chicks. My trustee scholarly search came up empty, and I couldn’t find any articles about it on my go-to blogs. |
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However, I did eventually find some sources I deemed credible that came directly from the farmers (the only people who can be trusted to talk about what’s happening on farms), or other industry professionals, and I quickly realized that there are a lot of parallels between the egg industry and the dairy cattle industry. When producers breed for replacement stock (female hens for egg operations, heifer calves for dairy) the male young that are born have no purpose on that farm. (Side note, I wrote about male dairy calves previously, check that out here).
Two important things I must clarify before moving forward: A) Eggs that are to end up in our food supply are not fertilized, meaning they have no chicks in them. The male chicks come from the breeding for replacement laying hens, which only the female chicks can be used for. And B) The egg laying industry is completely separate from the meat chicken, or broiler industry. The breeds of chickens used in each type of operation are totally different, and are evaluated based on separate characteristics that make them suitable to that particular niche. This is the reason why the male bi-products of the laying hen industry cannot be used as broiler chickens. In broiler chicken operations, both male and female birds are raised for meat (read about that, as well as how these farms promote welfare, here and here).
Two important things I must clarify before moving forward: A) Eggs that are to end up in our food supply are not fertilized, meaning they have no chicks in them. The male chicks come from the breeding for replacement laying hens, which only the female chicks can be used for. And B) The egg laying industry is completely separate from the meat chicken, or broiler industry. The breeds of chickens used in each type of operation are totally different, and are evaluated based on separate characteristics that make them suitable to that particular niche. This is the reason why the male bi-products of the laying hen industry cannot be used as broiler chickens. In broiler chicken operations, both male and female birds are raised for meat (read about that, as well as how these farms promote welfare, here and here).
Now, to answer the question we’re all asking… yes, male chicks born into egg-producing operations are euthanized, usually within 24 hours after birth. There are several methods of doing this: grinding, gassing, electrocution, and thoracic compression. Although these sound very harsh and painful, all of them have been approved and are regulated by the USDA, which deemed them the options that cause minimal stress (read more about that here and here).
But this does beg the question: Does chick culling mean that egg production is more cruel than other food alternatives? |
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No.
As I discussed in a very lengthy blog series, Deaths Comparison: Crop Production vs Slaughterhouses, a vegan diet actually kills more animals per calorie, gram of protein, and serving of food. This goes to show that, unfortunately, animals have to die for your meal no matter what kind of food is on your plate, even if it’s not from an animal carcass. I will not condemn those who are concerned about the chicks that died in the production of that tasty (and extremely healthy) breakfast omelet; it’s a perfectly understandable worry and consumers have every right to be aware of what went into making their food. However, if male chick culling drives you to cut out egg products altogether, then you would have to cut out almost every other food product as well, for the same reasons.
Furthermore, euthanizing male chicks is going to be a thing of the past very soon. How? By determining the chick’s sex long before it hatches, producers can make sure that almost every single chick that’s born is female. The goal, of course, would be 100% female chicks, but there is sure to be some trial and error as the science is newly emerging. Embryonic sexing technology is being developed all across the world, and egg farmers have initiated a plan that will end all killing of male chicks by 2020… because there simply won’t be any. This comes with the cooperation between animal welfare groups and farmers—an agreement forged on very few other issues because of such rampant misinformation being easily available to a population who is increasingly distanced from agriculture. This is another way that the egg industry is similar to dairy cattle production: semen sexing allows breeders to only implant sperm that will yield only heifer calves into cows via artificial insemination.
As I discussed in a very lengthy blog series, Deaths Comparison: Crop Production vs Slaughterhouses, a vegan diet actually kills more animals per calorie, gram of protein, and serving of food. This goes to show that, unfortunately, animals have to die for your meal no matter what kind of food is on your plate, even if it’s not from an animal carcass. I will not condemn those who are concerned about the chicks that died in the production of that tasty (and extremely healthy) breakfast omelet; it’s a perfectly understandable worry and consumers have every right to be aware of what went into making their food. However, if male chick culling drives you to cut out egg products altogether, then you would have to cut out almost every other food product as well, for the same reasons.
Furthermore, euthanizing male chicks is going to be a thing of the past very soon. How? By determining the chick’s sex long before it hatches, producers can make sure that almost every single chick that’s born is female. The goal, of course, would be 100% female chicks, but there is sure to be some trial and error as the science is newly emerging. Embryonic sexing technology is being developed all across the world, and egg farmers have initiated a plan that will end all killing of male chicks by 2020… because there simply won’t be any. This comes with the cooperation between animal welfare groups and farmers—an agreement forged on very few other issues because of such rampant misinformation being easily available to a population who is increasingly distanced from agriculture. This is another way that the egg industry is similar to dairy cattle production: semen sexing allows breeders to only implant sperm that will yield only heifer calves into cows via artificial insemination.
Additionally, the killing of male chicks is also being avoided by the development of dual purpose chicken breeds. As I previously mentioned, large-scale egg and chicken meat producers use completely separate breeds. However, more light is being shed on dual purpose breeds, such as the Black Australorp and the Speckled Sussex, that can lay usable eggs and yield enough meat. These breeds have been around for years, but only now are they being evaluated in the context of large-scale farms. It’s important to note that dual purpose means dual profitability; if farmers can improve upon the breeds so that they lay just as many eggs that are as high quality as those produced by breeds used exclusively in laying operations… as well as produce cuts of meat that are just as large and wholesome as breeds used exclusively in broiler operations, that would mean farms can either be combined to fill both niches, or ship male chicks, once separated from the females that will go on to lay eggs, to broiler farms to be grown for meat.
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In conclusion, farmers hear the worries of consumers, and do not want to see animals being put to death any more than you do. As a response to concerns, they have offered up multiple solutions. Male chicks often do live unfortunately short lives, but their death is painless. Welfare improvements are being made every day, and livestock raisers share the consumers’ hope that, in the future, all food can be produced with zero suffering.