A decree published in the Official Journal this Sunday, February 6, prohibits the grinding of male chicks at birth, in the laying hen sector. French hatcheries have until the end of 2022 to change their practices.
In France, five hatcheries specializing in the supply of laying hens to breeders are concerned. Some have already begun to install machines to determine the sex of embryos in the egg (a technique called ovosexing) and thus eliminate males before hatching.
According to the decree, which provides for a fine for offenders, hatcheries will have to justify during the year that they have indeed ordered ovosexing machines and started work to install them.
An additional cost to be expected
The State must subsidize part of the investment in the hatcheries, amounting to 15 million euros. As for the ovosexing service, it will make future hens much more expensive. An additional annual cost initially estimated by the profession at 64 million euros, then reduced to 47 million euros.
The sector is considering ways to pass on this additional cost to consumers, via a contribution levied on the eggs sold.
300 million chicks killed each year in the EU
This measure, demanded in particular by animal rights associations, had been expected for several years in France, the leading egg producer in Europe.
It is estimated that around 300 million chicks are killed each year in the European Union, including 50 million in France, because they are unable to lay eggs for consumption.
In 2019, with a view to accelerating the search for alternative options by companies, the Minister of Agriculture at the time, Didier Guillaume, had promised that this practice would be prohibited by the end of 2021. Minister Julien Denormandie had finally assured in the summer of 2021 that 2022 would be “the year of the end of the grinding and gassing of male chicks in France”.
In Germany, the culling of male chicks has been prohibited since the beginning of the year.