It is estimated that around 300 million chicken “brothers” are killed each year in the European Union, including 50 million in France (AFP/Archives/KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV)
The routine grinding of male chicks in the laying hen industry is prohibited, according to a decree published on Sunday which gives hatcheries until the end of the year to change their practices.
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 “brothers” of hens are killed each year in the European Union, including 50 million in France, because they are unable to lay the eggs that will end up on our plates.
Five hatcheries specializing in the supply of laying hens to breeders are concerned. Some have begun to install machines to determine the sex of embryos in the egg (ovosexing) – and therefore to eliminate males before hatching.
According to the decree published in the Official Journal, the hatcheries will have to justify during the year that they have indeed ordered ovosexing machines and started the work to install them.
In a hatchery in eastern France, February 23, 2006 (AFP/Archives/FREDERICK FLORIN)
These materials “allowing to determine the sex of the embryo no later than the fifteenth day of incubation” out of 21 must operate “no later than December 31, 2022”.
A fine is imposed for offenders.
“It went a little faster than we wanted,” reacted to AFP the president of the egg interprofession (CNPO), Philippe Juven.
“As these are new technologies, there are adjustments to be made to these facilities. The companies will do their best”, he added, without being able to assure that the hatcheries will be able to ovosex all the chicks by the end of the year.
Given the “goodwill” of the sector, he believes that there will be “understanding on the part of the public authorities” if the deadlines are not met.
– No ban on ducklings –
The decree could have been “more ambitious”, estimated for her part the director of the association for the defense of farmed animals CIWF France, Léopoldine Charbonneaux.
The association wanted the state to set a “longer-term” goal of ovosexing before the seventh day, to ensure that the embryos are eliminated before they are sensitive to pain. Sexing on the fifteenth day, “it’s too late”, according to Ms. Charbonneaux.
The technologies available in France make it possible to sex on the 13th day or even on the ninth day for the most expensive device.
CIWF also regrets that no measures have been taken for female ducklings. The latter are often eliminated, in particular in the foie gras sector where only the males are force-fed (AFP/Archives/DON EMMERT)
CIWF also regrets that no measures have been taken for female ducklings.
The latter are often eliminated, in particular in the foie gras sector where only the males are force-fed, their liver being judged to be of better quality. The sector has given itself until the end of 2024 to put an end to the grinding of females.
As early as 2019, with a view to accelerating the search for alternative options by companies, the then Minister of Agriculture, Didier Guillaume, had promised that the slaughter of chicks 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”.
The ban has been in effect since the beginning of the year in Germany, where the ovosexing machines have been developed with which French hatcheries must now be equipped.
The State must subsidize part of the hatchery investments, amounting to 15 million euros. As for the ovosexing service, it will make future hens much more expensive. An additional annual cost estimated at 47 million euros.
The sector is considering ways to pass on this additional cost to consumers, via a contribution levied on the eggs sold.
The ban on the slaughter of chicks does not concern lines intended for breeding, nor the specific animal feed market – when the chicks are used to feed reptiles or birds of prey, for example. Hatcheries will also be able to continue culling “accidentally undetected” males.
© 2022 AFP
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