Hidden horror in the egg industry
The egg industry hides a very dark secret. Farmers only keep the hens for around 12 months then they are sent to slaughter. This high turnaround means a lot of egg laying hens must be produced, which happens in hatcheries. Around half of the eggs hatched contain male chicks which have absolutely no value. The breed of bird is no good for meat – they grow too slowly and have very boney chests – so they are killed at just one day old. Or culled, as the industry likes to call it, as if it makes it less harsh somehow. Common methods used include gassing or macerating in a grinder. Yes you read that right, chicks get thrown live into a grinder. It is as abhorrent as it sounds and you can read more about it here: L214 chick culling investigation
Could foie gras be any worse?
It’s not just the egg industry that practices this abject cruelty on an immense scale. In the foie gras sector female ducklings are killed because they have small livers and cannot cope well with the force feeding, which makes a cruel industry even more barbaric. You can read more about that here: L214 duckling culling investigation
It is unfathomable that this practice is legal. The EU supposedly has extensive farm animal welfare legislation in place, so where does this fit in?
There is a solution to this – new technology that enables in-ovo sexing of the egg, which determines the sex before the embryo develops. The male eggs can be destroyed or used elsewhere, before they develop into chicks, and likewise for female ducklings in the foie gras sector. France, Austria and Germany have already banned chick culling and Italy will soon follow suit.
Coalition
I attended a webex presentation on 10th January this year on chick and duckling culling, hosted by French NGO L214. The presentation included footage of chicks and duckings being thrown into grinders and it was as disgusting as you could imagine. They did not all die straight away. The fear and pain must be immense, and don’t forget these little chicks and ducklings are just one day old. It is estimated that every year in the EU, hundreds of millions of male chicks from the egg industry and tens of millions of female ducklings from the foie gras industry are culled.
Shortly after attending the presentation EFI joined a coalition started by L214 that has 21 groups including Compassion in World Farming and Eurogroup for Animals. We are working together to try to bring about an EU ban on the practice, that will also include a ban on importing chicks or ducklings from countries that allow culling to happen. On 10th March MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen submitted a parliamentary question (PQ) that was supported by 61 MEPs including Mick Wallace, Grace O’Sullivan, Frances Fitzgerald, Clare Daly and Ciarán Cuffe. You can read the question here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/O-9-2023-000014_EN.html
European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents has three months to include this PQ in the agenda of a plenary session, after this time, the PQ will lapse. We must make sure that this item is put to the agenda of a plenary!
Following this PQ, we sent a letter to EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides asking that she includes a prohibition on the killing of day-old male chicks and female ducklings in the upcoming proposal for EU farm animal welfare legislation. This is an opportuntiy to bring about significant change that cannot be missed. You can read the letter here.
What can you do?
You can email Minister McConalogue by clicking on the link below, urging him to support a ban on chick and duckling culling. In July 2021 Ireland supported a German-French proposal to the EU Commission for an impact assessment be carried out on a potential EU-wide prohibition of this practice in the laying hen sector, with a view to better understanding the potential practicalities and implications for the poultry sector, so we would hope he would be in favour. But we need to keep the pressure on! https://www.stopgrindingandgassing.eu/
You can also sign this petition calling for an end to chick culling: DEMAND A BAN ON THE GRINDING OF ALL CHICKS!
Organic and free range farms also practice chick culling. In Ireland culling does not happen because all chicks in the commercial egg sector are imported at one day old from the UK, which is worse because the chicks also have the stress of long distance transport. That includes organic and free range farms. However there is some limited killing of male chicks in other sectors, for example in the broiler and duck industries. If you consume eggs please look for a backyard supplier, or small local farm so you can ask where they get their chicks from. They are more likely to breed their own hens and males will be reared and killed for consumption. If you have a local farmers market try there, or local butchers sometimes sell local eggs and other independent stores. Eggs in the supermarket, even organic, will have come from farms that buy chicks from hatcheries. I urge you to not consume foie gras as it is incredibly cruel, even without the maceration of ducklings!
Leave a Reply