“As of 2022, all poultry hatcheries will have to have installed or ordered machines letting them learn a chick’s sex in the egg.”
France is set to become the latest European county to ban the shredding and gassing with carbon dioxide of male chicks by 2022, Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie announced on Sunday.
The process of “chick culling” sees millions of male chicks killed after hatching every year via gas or shredding due to not being able to grow as large as female chicks and their inability to produce eggs.
European Union directive from 2009 currently allows the shredding of chicks as long as they are less than 72 hours old and the death is immediate.
While many farmers claim there is no affordable ways to determine the sex of an egg before hatching at mass production facilities, the method has frequently been hit out at by animal activism groups for cruelty as technology which will allow farmers to tell the sex of chicks before hatching is currently being further developed.
Denormandie told the Daily Le Parisien on Sunday that all French poultry farms will have to have installed or ordered machines to learn a chick’s sex before they hatch by 2022.
“As of January 1, 2022, all poultry hatcheries will have to have installed or ordered machines letting them learn a chick’s sex in the egg,” he said.
He added that the law would stop the killing of 50 millions male chicks a year and the state will provide a €10 million financial aid package to assist farmers in the purchasing of the necessary equipment.
“2022 will be the year when shredding and gassing of male chicks ends in France.”
France is the latest European country to ban the controversial action after Switzerland banned the shredding of chicks in 2020. However, the law does not prevent the use of CO2 gas.
The move comes after Germany said in January that it would also ban the shredding of chicks from next year.
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