7.2.1 – Egg assessment tool

The cessation of male chick culling is a growing concern in Europe. Following Germany and France, some hatcheries in Italy, Spain, and Denmark are equipping themselves with in-ovo sexing technology. No new legislation is under discussions at the EU level but the volume of “sexed” hens in Europe reached nearly 15% of the EU stock by late 2023.

This subtask aimed to make an economic evaluation of the most promising (less-invasive) techniques of sex determination during incubation (WP 5 and 7.1) in order to avoid the killing of one-day old male layer chicks by considering the use of the discarded early sexed male eggs.

The sensible and wise use of discarded hatching eggs as high-quality protein source will make the entire in-ovo sexing process a resource-efficient and sustainable process.

Homogenization of the regulation banning the culling of layer male chicks in Europe would avoid discrepancies in the production costs and competitiveness within the EU.