Rearing male chicks

Let’s start with our main topic: the male layer chicks. These birds are optimised for laying lots of eggs, not for growing lots of meat. Unfortunately, the males can’t lay eggs for obvious reasons and are therefore often considered a “byproduct” of the egg industry. 

But, that being said, you can breed them to maturity – a process called rearing. The downside is that it’s not a sustainable solution due to the high feed intake and resources required. This leads to a substantially higher environmental footprint.

Let’s make the comparison:

A layer male:

• Is reared for 11.5 weeks before it reaches its ‘slaughter-ready’ weight of 1.16 kg
• The animal takes in 3.28kg of feed
• This leaves only 693 grams of meat, often used in niche products due to its outspoken taste, which makes it unpopular
• That’s 8kg of CO2 equivalent with a total outcome of 693 grams. That’s 11.5kg of CO2 per kg of meat

A broiler bird:

• Is reared for 7 weeks before it reaches its ‘slaughter ready’ weight of 2.4kg
• The animal takes in 4.48kg of feedThis leaves 1764 grams of high-quality meat
• That’s 10,7kg of CO2 equivalent with a total outcome of 1764 grams. 
• That’s 6.1kg of CO2 per kg of meat

As such, while sparing male chicks from culling, the ecological implications are far-reaching and unsustainable.

Dual purpose chickens

Dual-purpose chickens, which are bred for both meat and egg production, offer several pros and cons that are worth diving into.

One of the main advantages is the obvious potential to avoid the culling of day-old male chicks. By breeding dual-purpose breeds, the need for culling male chicks from high-performance egg-laying breeds can potentially be solved. 

However, rearing dual-purpose chickens also presents some challenges and downsides. There is a competitive disadvantage compared to in-ovo sexing, due to the inefficiency of the breeds. The genes of these birds are neither optimised for laying eggs, nor growing substantial meat. This means they lay fewer eggs and they need more food, more time and more resources to produce. Of course, this impacts its footprint, leading to a less sustainable bird than those with optimised genetics for a specific goal.

A holistic view

While the ethical implications of male chick culling can be solved with these alternatives, it is important to take a holistic approach to the topic. It’s a delicate balance between animal welfare considerations and environmental responsibility, and it’s undesirable to increase the impact on the planet when solving the culling issue. In ovo sexing allows to prevent the culling of male chicks without having to rear males to maturity or using dual-purpose breeds that increase the carbon footprint of the poultry industry. 

Talking about sustainability, have you read our plant vs. animals article already? It’s about the impact of meat alternatives on the poultry industry, you might like it!