The Spreading, Game-Changing Technology To Avoid Killing Male Chicks

June 12, 2026 - 09:54

Most people don't know about the hundreds of millions of male chicks killed in U.S. egg production every year. But now those killings are completely unnecessary. A quiet revolution in poultry science is making the mass culling of newborn male chicks a thing of the past, and the technology is spreading faster than many expected.

For decades, the egg industry has faced a brutal math problem. Hens lay eggs, but male chicks from egg-laying breeds cannot grow enough meat to be profitable. They are useless to the industry. The standard solution has been to kill them within hours of hatching, often by grinding them alive or suffocating them. Estimates put the annual U.S. toll at over 300 million chicks.

The game-changing fix is called in-ovo sexing. Instead of waiting for chicks to hatch, machines can now determine the sex of a chick while it is still inside the egg, around day nine of incubation. Female eggs are kept to hatch into laying hens. Male eggs are removed and processed into animal feed or other products before they can feel pain. The technology uses various methods, including hyperspectral imaging, hormone analysis, or genetic markers, to spot the difference.

Germany and France have already banned the mass killing of male chicks, forcing their industries to adopt this technology. In the United States, the shift is market-driven. Major egg producers and grocery chains are starting to demand eggs from farms that use in-ovo sexing. The cost is still higher than traditional methods, but it is dropping. A few U.S. hatcheries have already begun converting their operations.

The change is not just about animal welfare. It also solves a massive waste problem. Every male chick that hatches is a wasted life, a wasted egg, and wasted energy. By identifying males before they hatch, the industry can use those eggs as a protein source instead of a disposal problem. The technology is not perfect yet, and some critics argue about the ethics of destroying eggs at any stage. But for the millions of male chicks that will never be born into a grinder, it is a clear step forward.