German Scientists Develop Technology to Save Potentially Millions of Male Baby Chicks Each Year

Scientists at Leipzig University in Germany developed technology that could save 45 million male chicks from being cruelly killed by the country’s egg industry each year, LiveKindly reports.

The company behind the groundbreaking technology, SELEGGT, aims to make it free to hatcheries as soon as 2020. Julia Klöckner, Germany’s minister of agriculture; Dr. Ludger Breloh, managing director of SELEGGT; and Jan Kunath, deputy board chairman of retail company REWE Group, announced the exciting news at a press conference last week.

Leipzig University received more than $5 million in funding to develop the technology that helps hatcheries determine the sex of chicks before they hatch.


This technology is important, because millions of male chicks are killed in the egg industry each year. Since they do not lay eggs or grow quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat, males are typically killed within hours of hatching. Some are ground up alive, while others are gassed or suffocated.


Sadly, this technology will not spare hens a lifetime of misery. When they are just a few days old, chicks have their sensitive beaks seared off with a hot blade. And at egg farms, the birds are kept in deplorable conditions. Most are confined in battery cages, each hen given less floor space than the size of an iPad. They never breathe fresh air or feel grass beneath their feet. Instead, they live in filthy warehouses, trapped inside barren cages.

After two years of torment, when their egg production slows down, hens are sent to slaughter.

Watch this Mercy For Animals undercover investigation at Gray Ridge Egg Farms, one of Canada’s largest egg producers.


While this new technology could spare millions of animals a gruesome death, no one needs to eat eggs or support this industry at all. Join the millions of people who have switched to a compassionate vegan diet. Order your FREE Vegetarian Starter Guide today. And check out our Pinterest page for thousands of recipe ideas!

And visit ChooseVeg.com for tips on replacing eggs for breakfast and baking without eggs.