WILTON, Iowa — Each year, approximately 350 million male chicks are culled in the United States because they lack the ability to lay eggs, resulting in insufficient economic value. This troubling practice, however, is starting to change with the advent of new technology that allows hatcheries to examine millions of fertilized eggs rapidly. This technology facilitates the identification of male embryos, providing a mechanism to grind them up for repurposing before they develop into chicks. This innovative system began operations this month at the largest hatchery in the nation, located in Iowa, which processes around 387,000 eggs daily.
“We now have ethically produced eggs we can really feel good about,” stated Jörg Hurlin, managing director of Agri Advanced Technologies, a German firm that has spent over a decade perfecting a machine the size of an SUV designed to differentiate eggs based on sex. Despite the increased awareness about ethical egg sourcing, many consumers—who opt for cage-free or free-range options—remain uninformed about the fact that hundreds of millions of male chicks meet their end annually, typically just a day after hatching. The majority of these chicks are culled using a method known as maceration, which employs rotating blades to swiftly kill the birds. While this method has been touted as humane due to its quickness, it can be visually unsettling.
“Does the animal suffer? No, because it’s instantaneous death. But it’s not pretty because it’s a series of rotating blades,” remarked Suzanne Millman, an animal welfare professor at Iowa State University. The practice of culling male chicks has emerged from a poultry industry that has traditionally bred distinct types of chickens for meat and eggs. The egg-laying breed is typically not suitable for meat production, leading to male chicks being ground up and used as feed additives.
The issue gained momentum when European governments initiated legislation prohibiting the maceration of chicks, driving companies to seek methods for determining the sex of embryos before they hatch. Various companies now have developed this capability, but AAT’s innovative machine is unique in that it does not require any shell penetration. Instead, it uses bright light and high-sensitivity cameras to ascertain the sex of embryos by observing feather coloration. Male embryos appear white, while females exhibit darker shading.
The machine, aptly named Cheggy, boasts a processing speed of up to 25,000 eggs per hour, fitting the high demands of U.S. hatcheries. Apart from the Cheggy system operating in Wilton, a duplicate setup has also been installed in Texas, both within hatcheries owned by Hy-Line North America. However, the process is currently limited to brown eggs, as male and female chicks in white eggs have feathers that are too similar in color for accurate detection.
While this limitation is not particularly problematic in Europe, where brown eggs dominate grocery sales, it presents challenges in the U.S., where white-shelled eggs account for about 81% of sales according to data from the American Egg Board. However, as demand grows, Hurlin expressed confidence that a method for identifying the sex of embryos in white eggs will emerge within five years, as various companies pursue this goal.
Hens screened through this new system will yield eggs for NestFresh Eggs, a company based in Southern California that markets organic eggs sourced from smaller farms across the nation. These eggs are expected to appear in stores starting mid-July, and NestFresh’s executive vice president, Jasen Urena, indicated that the company is excited to promote this more humane practice on their cartons along with a broader marketing campaign.
“It’s a significant advancement in animal welfare,” Urena stated. “We’ve invested years in improving the conditions on farms. Now we can extend that care into the hatchery phase.” Although the new system involves higher costs, Urena assured that any price increment seen on store shelves would be minor.
Animal welfare advocates, such as Mercy for Animals, have campaigned for over a decade to raise awareness regarding chick culling in hopes of terminating the practice altogether. Walter Sanchez-Suarez, a scientist specializing in animal behavior and welfare for the group, expressed optimism regarding the laws in Europe forbidding chick culling and similar initiatives emerging in the U.S. Nonetheless, he noted that these changes should be viewed as just a small part of a greater objective to curtail large-scale animal agriculture in favor of alternatives that better serve both the welfare of animals and the interests of human consumers. “Mercy for Animals believes this is a meaningful step, but poultry producers should go further and explore other opportunities for improving the well-being of both animals and consumers,” he said.
