Killing male chicks has been banned in Germany since early 2022. The interim balance, both from the point of view of the poultry industry and animal welfare, looks mixed. Stopping the killing of around 45 million chicks a year was long overdue, said a spokeswoman for the German Animal Welfare Association. But the alternatives do not make the animal rights activists happy: neither the so-called brother rooster fattening nor the determination of the sex in the egg have changed anything in the excesses of high-performance breeding. Dealing with the non-killed brothers of the laying hens, the brother cocks, is often contrary to animal welfare. When determining the sex in the egg, it cannot be ruled out that the chicks that have not yet hatched feel pain.

For the egg producers, the costs have increased significantly, says Dietmar Tepe from the Association for Controlled Alternative Animal Husbandry (KAT). He speaks of additional costs of up to 2.5 cents per egg. The privately organized association is best known for its traceability system for eggs and egg products.

In the current difficult market situation with high costs for the producers and consumer reluctance to buy, attempts are being made to circumvent the ban on killing chicks. Because the import of laying hens from abroad, where the ban does not apply, is still permitted, as is the import of eggs from abroad. According to Tepe, eggs from production with chick killing are still used in processed products in particular. After all, the marketing of Bruderhahn meat is a flop: there is hardly any demand.

Animal protection association to kill chicks