Final signature count: 2,812

2,812 signatures toward our 50,000 goal

About 300 million chicks are killed in the United States every year, and nearly 7 billion around the world1, all because they were born male and seemingly unprofitable to egg producers.

Male chicks often cost more to feed and house than farmers can sell them for as meat. They are considered worthless, and for every new egg-laying hen born into today’s factory farming system, a male chick is killed2.

Scientists in Germany have found a way to save these animals without hindering the profits of egg producers. Their patented egg test, “Seleggt,” can determined the sex of an egg before it hatches3.

Any eggs with male hormones do not have to be further incubated at that point, and can be diverted to other products.

With technology and methods like Seleggt, It is possible to harvest eggs without needlessly killing billions of chicks every year. Anticipating other innovation in this field, France is the first country in the world with plans to phase out the culling of unwanted male chicks by 2021, and Germany is expected to follow4.

In the U.S., the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research hosts the Egg-Tech Prize, a contest to develop “technology that determines an egg’s sex before it hatches1.”

Along with reducing a great amount of suffering, this advantage would lead to advances in orthogonal fields like medicine. Over 6 billion male eggs could be used for food, animal feed, or vaccine production. This technology could further reduce the cost and carbon footprint, while increasing the energy efficiency of overall egg production1.

We have the technology. It’s time the same humane practices adopted in France were followed in the United States. Sign the petition below and demand an end to the needless culling of male chicks!