German court rules mass-killing of male chicks legal

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

[link:|German court rules mass-killing of male chicks legal]

13 June 2019

A top German court has ruled that it is still lawful for poultry and egg producers to kill unwanted male chicks.

The ruling, by Germany's Federal Administrative Court on Thursday, backs companies on a temporary basis until an alternative can be found.

Mass-culling of male chicks is common practice in industrialised farming around the world.

After being sexed, billions of the baby birds are killed shortly after birth - usually by grinding or gassing.

Officials say this means about 45 million male chicks die every year in Germany alone.

-snip-


Every year, billions of male chicks are killed shortly after they are hatched (Getty Images)

[Beringia]

1. I am surprised anyone is even championing the male chicks, good for them

More from article:

After years of research and millions in government funding, a German company called Seleggt started to sell the first "no kill" eggs on the market last year.

They developed a non-invasive way to determine chicken embryo sex, from about seven days after fertilisation, by extracting fluid and detecting hormones.

The method allows them to bring females to full maturity and discard males prior to hatching - turning them into high-quality animal feed.

The eggs, labelled Respeggt, are currently available in more than 200 shops in Germany, with hope the technology will become more widespread soon.