Dutch solving the issue of one day old layer males

The Dutch government, hatchery sector, animal welfare group and a university are combining their efforts to solve the issue of one day old layer males.

Destroying the male one day old chicks of layer chicken meets more and more societal opposition. That is why the Dutch government, hatchery sector, animal welfare group and the university of Leiden have signed a letter of intend to combine efforts to solve the issue. In the future determination of the sex at or before day 10 of the hatching process and destroying the eggs will make hatching of male layer chicks obsolete.

The possibilities to determine the sex at an early stage is possible under laboratory conditions. However, the quest for an effective and practical system for use in large scale hatcheries is the next step. With the agreement between the participants that next step will be explored. A firm connected with the university, a start-up biotech firm called In Ovo, will get more than half a million euros to further the techniques.

Four Dutch layer hatcheries have confirmed that they will implement the systems developed by In Ovo if they meet up with standards of efficacy and effectiveness needed in a professional hatchery.