Male chicks from laying hen breeds cannot produce eggs and grow too slowly for meat production. Around seven billion are killed annually at hatcheries worldwide — one of the largest welfare concerns in food production.
Male chick culling presents one of the most significant welfare challenges in food production by virtue of its scale: seven billion individuals killed annually exceeds the number of any other single animal killing event in agriculture. The welfare question centres on whether the killing methods used are humane, and whether alternatives that prevent hatching of male chicks are achievable. In-ovo sexing before neural development (before day 14 of incubation) eliminates the welfare concern by preventing the development of a chick capable of suffering. The technology is commercially available and increasingly cost-competitive. The welfare case for mandating or incentivising in-ovo sexing adoption is among the clearest in farm animal welfare policy given the scale of harm reduction achievable.