Europe's largest hatchery Verbeek in Zeewolde has acquired new technology from the German-Dutch Seleggt group for determining the sex of fertilized eggs.
This technology allows it to be determined within a few days whether the egg will hatch into a hen or a rooster, preventing the need to cull day-old male chicks.
Soon, a law will take effect in Germany that prohibits culling male chicks. This has forced especially the German egg trade and poultry industry to seek a solution. The EU is also currently working on a ban.
France and Germany are in favor of a European ban on killing day-old male chicks. Together with Austria, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Portugal, the agricultural ministers of these countries made a proposal to this effect in June.
Dutch Members of Parliament also believe that killing male chicks shortly after hatching should be banned as soon as possible. A majority in the House of Representatives therefore wants such a ban in the Netherlands as well.
Minister of Agriculture Carola Schouten has previously indicated that she is not yet in favor of such a ban because the poultry sector is already actively developing alternatives.
In more than 6,000 supermarkets in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Switzerland, customers can already find eggs labeled with the respective heart seal “Without killing chicks.”
The new equipment will be installed at Verbeek in September, Seleggt announced last week. The Seleggt process is based on endocrinological sex determination in the fertilized egg, in which the sex is determined using hormones.
In the Netherlands, companies such as Respeggt and In Ovo (Leiden) are working on techniques for sex determination inside the egg. The Dutch poultry sector has been in contact with the Leiden-based company since 2014. Leiden University, the Animal Protection Society, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) are also involved in the development.
“After evaluating all options to stop the killing of chicks in our hatchery, we chose Respeggt because the method is the most ethical, sustainable, and efficient for early sexing. Moreover, the technology can be installed in the short term,” said Herman Brus, General Director of Verbeek’s Hatchery, in a joint press release.