Chick slaughtering

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Chick slaughtering is the culling of young chickens for which commercial breeders have no use. In an industrial egg-producing facility, about half of the newly hatched chicks will be male and grow up to be roosters. The males are normally sold on for meat production or culled.

[edit] Recommended culling practices for unwanted chicks

1. Chicks which are not intended for rearing shall be killed as soon as possible and in any case before they are 72 hours old.

2. Chicks should be killed by using a mechanically operated apparatus approved for this purpose in accordance with national legislation, designed and operated in such a way as to ensure that all chicks are killed immediately even if they are handled in large numbers.

3. Gases or gas mixtures may only be used where the procedure is approved under national legislation.

Measures shall be taken to ensure rapid death and to avoid suffocation under other birds by putting birds in a single layer and monitoring gas concentrations.

4. To kill any living embryos instantaneously, all hatchery waste shall be treated without delay using the mechanical apparatus mentioned above or any living embryo must be killed without delay.

The American Veterinary Medical Association recommends cervical dislocation and asphyxiation by carbon dioxide as the best options, but has recently amended their guidelines to include maceration.

The 2005-2006 AVMA Executive Board held its final meeting July 13 in Honolulu, prior to the 2006 session of the House of Delegates and the AVMA Annual Convention. Excerpt: Proposed policy change recommended by the Animal Welfare Committee on disposal of unwanted chicks, poults, and pipped eggs.

"The board voted to approve adoption of the policy for inclusion in the AVMA Guidelines on Euthanasia as follows:

Disposal of Unwanted Chicks, Poults, and Pipped Eggs Unwanted chicks, poults, and pipped eggs should be killed by an acceptable humane method, such as use of a commercially designed macerator that results in instantaneous death. Smothering unwanted chicks or poults in bags or containers is not acceptable. Pips, unwanted chicks, or poults should be killed prior to disposal. A pipped egg, or pip, is one where the chick or poult has not been successful in escaping the egg shell during the hatching process."

website about 2005-2006 AVMA Executive Board held its final meeting July 13 in Honolulu

Animal rights activists maintain that the practice is inhumane; ideally in this situation chemical or other interventions could ensure that unwanted male chicks were not produced in the first place, so they wouldn't need to be killed.