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The literally industrial-scale killing of just-born male chickens is probably the best kept secret of poultry farms across the country.
In what is just another day’s work, close to 500,000 male fledglings meet a gruesome death every day in India, before they have even had a chance to take their bearings after being hatched.
Eggs that are just about to hatch are laid out on a conveyor belt, the process working with clockwork precision – tiny females hatching out of the eggs are immediately being put in large plastic containers.
The males have no such luck. The conveyor belt takes them to a giant revolving grinder where they are literally shredded to pieces, alive.
N G Jayasimha, managing director of Humane Society International (HSI) India says this is how the lives of a majority of 180 million male chickens are ended every year merely seconds after they are born. Some firms also use suffocation or stuffing the chicks in plastic bags to kill them.
Killing of male fledglings or maceration is a regular practice in the poultry industry in India – which is the third largest producer of eggs in the world – as well as abroad. HSI, which works on animal protection issues around the world, said about half the eggs that hatch are male which are of no use to the poultry industry since they do not lay eggs.
According to Jayasimha, the egg industry is growing at a rate of 8-12% annually as rising incomes boost protein consumption in the form of eggs and meat.
But there is some good news. To deal with this issue, both animal protection organisations and large corporates are engaging with stakeholders to bring out workable solutions. Global food giant Unilever announced earlier this month that it is going to work to prevent maceration and suffocation of male chicks, the only major egg buyer to take a public stance against the practice.
In August, global FMCG major Nestle also announced a series of steps to reduce animal cruelty at its suppliers’ businesses, although maceration of male chicks was not one of them.
A Unilever spokesperson told Business Standard the company is trying to develop alternatives to the current practices and is engaging with egg producers, the animal welfare community and R&D companies across the industry.
“We have also committed to providing funding and expertise for research and the introduction of alternative methods such as in-ovo gender identification (sexing) of eggs. This new technology offers the potential to eliminate the hatching and culling of male chicks in the poultry-breeding industry,” the spokesperson said.
Some educational institutions in Asia Pacific are engaged in research on how to determine the sex of the chick before it hatches. For this, steps including using gel-based technology to mark the hen before eggs are laid are being tested.
Animal protection organisations are also making efforts to deter the practice. HSI is working with hotels around the word and also with organisations to reduce consumption and to buy refined products that do not involve killing male chicks. He added that the poultry industry should also become aware, now that there is also customer consciousness about these practices.
The reproductive system of the female chicken is such that it doesn’t need a male chicken to produce eggs. From the time it is six months old, the hen starts laying eggs. Only if an egg has to be fertilised, a male (cock or rooster) is needed. The poultry industry consists of broilers and layers. The former are raised for meat production while the latter are for egg production.
In India, there are about seven large organised players in the poultry/egg production space. Officials said that there are several unorganised companies operating in this segment where the conditions are even worse.
Though wide-scale technology is not available commercially to identify the gender of the chick, poultry companies are of the view that if it is affordable they would consider using it.
“We do not wish to purposely end lives but that is a part of the commercial production process. While we do not know how expensive the technology would be, if it is viable to be used in factories we would consider it,” said an executive from a Tamil Nadu-based poultry company. Not surprisingly, most leading poultry firms did not want to comment on the issue.
