Chick culling

Template:Globalize/US Chick culling is the culling of newly hatched male chickens for which breeders have no use. In an industrial egg-producing facility, about half of the newly hatched chicks will be male and would grow up to be roosters, which do not lay eggs and therefore there is no incentive for the breeder to keep alive. Most of the male chicks are usually killed shortly after hatching.

History

Prior to the development of modern meat breeds, most male chickens (cockerels) would usually be slaughtered for meat, while females(pullets) would be kept for egg production. However, once farmers bred separate meat and egg breeds, it became apparent that there was no reason to keep males of the egg breed alive. As a result the males of every 'batch' of egg-laying chickens would be killed as soon as possible to reduce losses incurred by the breeder through the feeding and sheltering of them. Special techniques were developed to accurately determine the sex of chicks at as young an age as possible.

The culling of unwanted chicks

In industrial factory farms, Chicks that are not intended for rearing are culled shortly after their sex is determined, usually before they are 72 hours old. Chicks are generally killed through use of a mechanically operated apparatus approved for that purpose in accordance with national legislation.

Methods

Several methods have been used to cull chicks:

• Maceration, using a large high-speed grinder into which the chicks are fed.
• Gases or gas mixtures, often carbon dioxide is used to induce unconsciousness and then death.
• Cervical dislocation, manually induced dislocation of the spinal column from the skull.
• Burying alive.
• Electrocution, a new method that has been touted as being cheap, reliable, and humane by its developers

Recommended culling practices

The American Veterinary Medical Association recommends cervical dislocation and asphyxiation by carbon dioxide as the best options, but has recently amended their guidelines to include maceration.

The 2005-2006 American Veterinary Medical Association Executive Board held its final meeting July 13 in Honolulu, prior to the 2006 session of the House of Delegates and the AVMA Annual Convention. It proposed a policy change, which was recommended by the Animal Welfare Committee on disposal of unwanted chicks, poults, and pipped eggs. The new policy states, in part, "Unwanted chicks, poults, and pipped eggs should be killed by an acceptable humane method, such as use of a commercially designed macerator that results in instantaneous death. Smothering unwanted chicks or poults in bags or containers is not acceptable. Pips, unwanted chicks, or poults should be killed prior to disposal. A pipped egg, or pip, is one where the chick or poult has not been successful in escaping the egg shell during the hatching process."

Controversy

Animal rights activists maintain that the practice of chicken slaughtering is unethical. Along with the keeping of hens in battery cages, chick culling is a main reason eggs are avoided by ethical vegetarians and vegans. This practice is used throughout the egg industry and is therefore a reason that "free-range" eggs are not the whole answer to humane treatment issues.

See also

• Free range
• Culling
• Chicken sexer
• Homogenization

External links

• Video of chick sexing and culling by maceration (a grinder) From [Mercy for Animals].
• Video shows chicks tossed alive into grinder

• Farm Lobby Blocks Proposed California Ban on Killing Chickens Via Wood Chipper (June 2005)