page_title: Chick culling
section_title: Statistics
hierarchical_section_title: Chick culling / Statistics
caption_attribution_description: האפרוחים הזכרים לא נחוצים לתעשייה, משום שלא יגדלו מהר כמו אפרוחים מגזעים לבשר ומשום שלא יטילו ביצים. לכן הם מושמדים בשיטות הזולות והאכזריות ביותר
context_page_description: Chick culling or unwanted chick killing is the process of separating and disposing of unwanted chicks, for which the intensive animal farming industry has no use. It occurs in all industrialised egg production whether free range, organic, or battery cage. Worldwide, around 7 billion male chicks are culled per year in the egg industry. Because male chickens do not lay eggs and only those on breeding programmes are required to fertilise eggs, they are considered redundant to the egg-laying industries and are usually killed shortly after being sexed, which occurs just days after they are conceived or after they hatch. Some methods of culling that do not involve anaesthetics include: cervical dislocation, asphyxiation by carbon dioxide and maceration using a high-speed grinder, while other methods include using a laser to cut a hole in the egg, removing a drop of fluid to be tested and providing the sex of the chicken. Asphyxiation is the only method in the United Kingdom, while maceration is the primary method in the United States. As of 2016, US producers expected by 2020 to be able to determine the sex of the developing chick long before hatching, so male eggs can be destroyed.
context_section_description: Worldwide: approximately 7 billion male chicks are culled annually around the world (2015 Poultry Site estimate). Other estimates include 6 billion (June 2016 SMH claim), 4–6 billion chicks (December 2018 The Guardian claim). According to In Ovo cofouder Wouter Bruins in October 2013, the top 20 poultry production countries alone culled 3.2 billion male chicks a year.
  Australia: more than 12 million male chicks are culled annually (June 2016 estimate). Maceration is the primary method used, but gassing is also used.
  Belgium: more than 15 million male chicks are culled annually, 40,000 a day (February 2020 estimate). CO2 gassing is the only method used and happens in two stages: chicks are first stunned and then killed.
  Canada: 22.5 million male chicks are culled annually, nearly 62,000 a day (December 2016 estimate).
  France: 50 million male chicks are culled annually in the egg industry (February 2020 estimate) and around 40 million female ducklings and goslings are culled annually in the foie gras industry (October 2014 estimate). Maceration is the primary method in both industries.
  Germany: up to 50 million chicks are culled annually (October 2019 estimate). Gassing is the primary method.
  Netherlands: 45 million male chicks are culled annually (May 2016 estimate). Gassing is the primary method.
  New Zealand: 2.5 million (April 2001 estimate) to 3 million (June 2016 estimate) male chicks are culled annually. Maceration is the primary method.
  Spain: 35 million male chicks are culled annually (March 2020 estimate).
  Switzerland: about 3 million male chicks are culled annually (September 2019 estimate). Gassing is the only method used; maceration was prohibited on 1 January 2020, but rarely used before that date.
  United Kingdom: 30 to 40 million male chicks are culled annually (November 2010 Viva! claim). A November 2010 Telegraph article reported on two undercover operations carried out by animal rights organisation Viva! showing a gassing-method hatchery and a maceration-method hatchery, both located in Preston. Both methods were reportedly 'legal and approved by both the Humane Slaughter Association and the RSPCA', with a British Egg Information Service (BEIS) spokesman saying gassing was used more often than maceration in the UK. In March 2015, a BEIS spokesman insisted that gassing was the only method used in the UK.
  United States: 300 million male chicks are culled annually (January 2020 The Humane Society claim). The Associated Press estimated this number at 200 million in 2009. Maceration is the primary method.
caption: Male chicks prepared to be killed
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