05.12.2023
A recent report delves into the practice of culling within various sectors of the poultry industry, encompassing commercial egg production, the disposal of chicks and embryos from broiler breeder birds, newly hatched turkey poults, and newly hatched ducklings. This report, issued by The Animal Welfare Committee of the Welsh government, outlines alternatives to culling newly hatched chicks in the egg and poultry industry. Notably, The Animal Welfare Committee serves as an expert body under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, collaborating with both the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government.
The primary recommendations set forth are as follows:
1. The government should declare the routine culling of newly hatched chicks and turkey poults, based on their sex, as illegal once reliable and accurate methods for sexing eggs before hatching become available for implementation in hatcheries across Great Britain. 2. Upon achieving this milestone, the importation of eggs, female chicks, and poults from production systems that engage in routine culling should be prohibited.
3. Concerning eggs, meat chickens, and turkeys, any forthcoming government welfare labeling scheme should consider, in its standards definition, whether the production system involves the routine culling of chicks or poults due to their sex.
4. Until the implementation of reliable sexing methods, governments should provide financial support for the adoption and utilization of egg sexing technologies—either before or after incubation commences—that do not impose significant negative welfare impacts. Currently available technologies include allantoic fluid analysis, hyperspectral imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging. These techniques should ideally be applied no later than day 12 of incubation.
5. Governments are encouraged to endorse the advancement and utilization of dual-purpose breeds, particularly through regenerative and agroecological farming programs. This aligns with the Climate Change Committee's recommendation to reduce meat consumption, thereby contributing to the government's net zero emissions target.
