The president of the German poultry industry believes that European rules against the killing of male chicks should be introduced as soon as possible. Chairman Friedrich-Otto Ripke says German poultry is starting to suffer disadvantages from the ban on Chick-killing introduced in Germany earlier this year. The new law in Germany for the protection of male chicks has already ensured that millions of animals were not killed immediately after hatching, Ripke said in an interview with German newspapers. “The new law will save around 40 million male chicks from death in Germany this year,” said Ripke. Since the introduction of the ban in January, the German egg trade has been using modern technology to determine within nine days whether an egg becomes a chicken or a rooster, Ripke reports. The president of the association called for uniform European rules. The German law “allows too many circumstances of evasion.” “For example, male chicks can be exported across the border and killed there,” says Ripke. Because in Poland, The Netherlands, Italy or France, the killing of chicks is still allowed. German breeders would have competitive disadvantages in a European comparison. Killing male chicks is still legal in Switzerland, but only with gas. The shredding of male chicks has been banned there since the beginning of 2020. France and Germany last summer called for a European ban on the killing of male offspring. Together with Austria, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal, the agriculture ministers of these countries have already submitted a proposal to this effect in Brussels. So far, little has been done about it.
