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What happens to male chicks in the Irish egg industry?

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    #2
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,946 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Anywhere working to an industrial scale will destroy the male chicks. Very small scale suppliers may not but you'll pay through the nose as a result.


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    #3
    Worztron
    Registered Users Posts: 8,675 ✭✭✭Worztron


    L1011 wrote: »
    Anywhere working to an industrial scale will destroy the male chicks. Very small scale suppliers may not but you'll pay through the nose as a result.

    That is seriously messed up.

    Are the egg industry male chicks never the chicken on peoples plate? Or are these chicken eaten from a different breed of chicken?

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



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    #4
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    Worztron wrote: »
    That is seriously messed up.

    Are the egg industry male chicks never the chicken on peoples plate? Or are these chicken eaten from a different breed of chicken?

    As far as I know, male chicks are disposed of straight away. Female ones are kept for laying for a short while, and when their egg production declines they then become "table hens" :(


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    #5
    Chromosphere
    Closed Accounts Posts: 204 ✭✭Chromosphere


    While I hate to say this, it's most likely they end up as pet food ingredient.


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    #6
    Water John
    Registered Users Posts: 21,171 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    Two diff breeds entirely. you could not fatten a high yielding egg laying breed.

    Same happens with male goats of the dairy breeds.


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    #7
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    http://www.ciwf.ie/farminfo/farmfacts_broiler.html


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    #8
    Worztron
    Registered Users Posts: 8,675 ✭✭✭Worztron


    I feel sick. :(

    http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/hatched-discarded-gassed-what-happens-to-male-chicks-in-the-uk-10088509.html

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



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    #9
    Water John
    Registered Users Posts: 21,171 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    The skill of sexing chicks was developed in Japan in the 1940's. Specialist skill with high wages.
    Gassing would be humane.
    Sort a knew 'males don't lay eggs'.


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    #10
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    Worztron wrote: »
    I feel sick. :(

    http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/hatched-discarded-gassed-what-happens-to-male-chicks-in-the-uk-10088509.html
    So sad. I only eat eggs from the farm across the road. They have their own hens plus a few ex batt girls that I rescued. They really are "free range" to the extent that I have to shoo them out of my garden sometimes lol. They are allowed to live out their lives (though I suspect this is because the farmer doesn't know which ones are laying and which have stopped - he's a mean ol' git who wouldn't like to feed anything that doesn't give him a "return". Anyway, the eggs are delicious, I love them :)


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    #11
    Worztron
    Registered Users Posts: 8,675 ✭✭✭Worztron


    https://www.reddit.com/r/vegetarian/comments/50j0jn/10_top_reasons_to_stop_eating_eggs/

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



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    #12
    Worztron
    Registered Users Posts: 8,675 ✭✭✭Worztron


    Water John wrote: »
    The skill of sexing chicks was developed in Japan in the 1940's. Specialist skill with high wages.
    Gassing would be humane.
    Sort a knew 'males don't lay eggs'.

    Killing billions of new born chicks each year is not humane.

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



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    #13
    Worztron
    Registered Users Posts: 8,675 ✭✭✭Worztron


    Picture these little fellas being killed because they are mere "byproducts" of the egg industry. https://i.imgur.com/GvHNvSy.mp4

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



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    #14
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    Worztron wrote: »
    Killing billions of new born chicks each year is not humane.

    I agree, but I suspect the poster meant the more humane (less inhumane?) method as opposed to being fúcked into a grinder fully conscious :( They are babies :mad:


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    #15
    maximum12
    Closed Accounts Posts: 666 ✭✭✭maximum12


    Saw a programme recently where researchers have come up with a way to sex the eggs at the embryonic stage. Described here: https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/a-scientist-has-figured-out-how-to-determine-chickens-sex-before-they-hatch


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    #16
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    maximum12 wrote: »
    Saw a programme recently where researchers have come up with a way to sex the eggs at the embryonic stage. Described here: https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/a-scientist-has-figured-out-how-to-determine-chickens-sex-before-they-hatch

    What about pro-life vegans?

    I'll get my coat :pac:


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    #17
    Worztron
    Registered Users Posts: 8,675 ✭✭✭Worztron


    On each egg carton they should have the message: "All male chicks born were killed hours after hatching via [insert horrific method here]." In clear bold text. Imagine how much egg sales would plummet.

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



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    #18
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    Worztron wrote: »
    On each egg carton they should have the message: "All male chicks born were killed hours after hatching via [insert horrific method here]." In clear bold text. Imagine how much egg sales would plummet.

    Except they wouldn't. Cognitive dissonance. People generally don't care, or only care about some things and not others.

    http://www.people.com/article/man-kills-ducklings-lawnmower


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    #19
    cowboyBuilder
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,419 ✭✭✭cowboyBuilder


    Worztron wrote: »
    Hi.

    What happens to male chicks in the Irish egg industry? Do they suffer the same fate as other places?

    It seems that regardless of whether the hens are free-range / battery / etc. -- the poor male chicks suffer the same end.

    This is horrific.
    http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/chicks-on-conveyor-belt-to-death-135339.html
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1326168/Secret-footage-shows-millions-British-chicks-killed-year.html



    :(:(

    Jesus, I feel sick.


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    #20
    Musketeer4
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 657 ✭✭✭Musketeer4


    As with the bull calf thread, do poultry farmers not have the means of ensuring only hen chicks are hatched like the way dairy farms use sex semen to ensure only cow calfs are born? Does this technology exist for poultry?

    Surely it would make sense to implement such technology. If say 50ish% of hatchlings are male chicks then that's a lot of energy and investment into hatching eggs that are ultimately only going to end up as a waste product. Very inefficient. Or perhaps they are using sexed semen but there is always some residual level of waste male chicks produced.


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    #21
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    It seems that not many people even know about this side of the injury. There should be more awareness raised around it. I know even as a vegetarian I never realised what was involved. It makes sense now but I simply didn't think. If someone had asked me what I thought happened to them I might have figured it out. Same with milk. I never had an issue with it because I just figured well it comes from cows, but only later thought, hang on....it comes from cows that have had babies....what do the babies drink if we drink their milk? What happens to the babies? And then you're into the veal industry and the dairy industry that keeps cows in a constant cycle of gestation, rape racks, taking their calves from them etc. But, I simply didn't consider it. I just thought, well...milk comes from a cow, eggs come from a chicken. if I don't eat the cow or the chicken then I'm alright.


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    #22
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    Musketeer4 wrote: »
    As with the bull calf thread, do poultry farmers not have the means of ensuring only hen chicks are hatched like the way dairy farms use sex semen to ensure only cow calfs are born? Does this technology exist for poultry?

    Surely it would make sense to implement such technology. If say 50ish% of hatchlings are male chicks then that's a lot of energy and investment into hatching eggs that are ultimately only going to end up as a waste product. Very inefficient. Or perhaps they are using sexed semen but there is always some residual level of waste male chicks produced.

    Can they really do this?


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    #23
    cowboyBuilder
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,419 ✭✭✭cowboyBuilder


    OldNotWIse wrote: »
    It seems that not many people even know about this side of the injury. There should be more awareness raised around it. I know even as a vegetarian I never realised what was involved. It makes sense now but I simply didn't think. If someone had asked me what I thought happened to them I might have figured it out. Same with milk. I never had an issue with it because I just figured well it comes from cows, but only later thought, hang on....it comes from cows that have had babies....what do the babies drink if we drink their milk? What happens to the babies? And then you're into the veal industry and the dairy industry that keeps cows in a constant cycle of gestation, rape racks, taking their calves from them etc. But, I simply didn't consider it. I just thought, well...milk comes from a cow, eggs come from a chicken. if I don't eat the cow or the chicken then I'm alright.


    Exactly, drinking a glass of milk is as wrong as eating steak ..

    Yet I still do it .. :mad:


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    #24
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,090 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    cowboyBuilder wrote: »
    Exactly, drinking a glass of milk is as wrong as eating steak ..

    Yet I still do it .. :mad:

    Discovering the chicken grindings really pushed me to be vegan.


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    #25
    Musketeer4
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 657 ✭✭✭Musketeer4


    OldNotWIse wrote: »
    Can they really do this?

    Yes, this technology exists and it is now becoming industry standard.Its a great idea because it prevents bull calfs from being born and thereby increases the efficiency of the farm.


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    #26
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    Musketeer4 wrote: »
    Yes, this technology exists and it is now becoming industry standard.Its a great idea because it prevents bull calfs from being born and thereby increases the efficiency of the farm.

    Though presumably the female calves are still taken from their mother so that the milk can be sold?


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    #27
    Musketeer4
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 657 ✭✭✭Musketeer4


    Of course.


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    #28
    Water John
    Registered Users Posts: 21,171 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    Sexed semen though around a good while, is not used extensively.
    Modern dairy cows would have enough milk for 8/10 calves and are not very maternal.


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    #29
    Musketeer4
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 657 ✭✭✭Musketeer4


    But production of bull calves is still essentially a waste byproduct because they are no use to the dairy herd. Would there not be greater productivity to be had by producing only female calves?


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    #30
    Water John
    Registered Users Posts: 21,171 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    Sexed semen has a lower conception rate.
    A dairy herd only needs about 20/25% replacement rate.
    The rest of the calves are raised as beef.


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    #31
    Worztron
    Registered Users Posts: 8,675 ✭✭✭Worztron


    Water John wrote: »
    Sexed semen though around a good while, is not used extensively.
    Modern dairy cows would have enough milk for 8/10 calves and are not very maternal.

    "not very maternal"

    Sounds like bs right there.

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



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