Are Men Useless?

In the egg industry, absolutely.

Like their sisters and female ‘cousins,’ life also begins in the hatchery for male chicks. However, this is also where life ends. The egg industry requires female hens, as they are the only chickens that produce eggs. Male chicks are useless, and keeping them alive would be a waste of time and money. Unable to ever produce eggs themselves and a completely different breed to the chickens used for meat (layer hens are bred to produce eggs whereas meat chickens are bred to grow large breast muscles and legs), the male chicks are considered waste products, as are any females perceived to be deformed or weak.

After the male and female chicks have been sorted by sex, the male and unhealthy female chicks are placed on a separate conveyor belt from the healthy females, which leads them to the industrial blender called a macerator. This practice is legal and referred to as ‘humane’ by the RSPCA. Smaller hatcheries may use carbon dioxide gas or simply suffocate the chicks in plastic bags.

All commercial egg farms (caged, barn laid, free range, organic, RSPCA-approved, etc.) involve the killing of male chicks, to a total of roughly 12 million per year in Australia and around 260 million male chicks in the United States yearly.

If you purchase, eat, or encourage the use of eggs, you encourage the maceration, suffocation, and gassing of newborn chicks.

To learn more about the egg industry, read “Exploited for Eggs” and “Egg-scrutiating.”