New technique established for sexing chick embryos

Male chicks are usually discarded, however a breakthrough method has been found that could spare male baby chicken the chop after hatching. The German scientist who came up with this system received a €30.000 prize for animal protection, sounds like a better option than culling. What do you think?

Maria-Elisabeth Krautwald-Junghanns, a veterinarian from Leipzig, discovered a way of determining the sex of chicken embryos while they are still in the egg. Since most poultry farms routinely kill male chicks – because they cannot lay eggs and because male fowl meat is not tasty – this will avoid unnecessary animal cruelty.

Study says chick embryos feel no pain at this stage of development

Discarding unhatched males still in the egg will have fewer ill effects. Embryos are unable to feel any pain at this stage of development, studies show. A touchy subject in Germany, where animal rights are a matter of hot debate and where the practice of chicken culling after hatching causes a lot of outrage.

Hence the decision of Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University to award the biannual €30,000 Felix Wankel animal protection prize to the Leipzig professor.

Source: Mail & Guardian