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What happens to male chicks in the Irish egg industry?

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    #32
    Musketeer4
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 657 ✭✭✭Musketeer4


    Worztron wrote: »
    "not very maternal"

    Sounds like bs right there.

    Yeah I call bs on that too. Go to walk across a field with cows and newborn calfs and you'd be lucky to make it to the far ditch. Cows with newborn calves are very dangerous.


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    #33
    Water John
    Registered Users Posts: 21,170 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    Yeah, but if they are separated a few hours in the early days, the cow has forgotten about the calf.


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    #34
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    Water John wrote: »
    Yeah, but if they are separated a few hours in the early days, the cow has forgotten about the calf.

    How do you know this?


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    #35
    Savvy student
    Registered Users Posts: 78 ✭✭Savvy student


    Water John wrote: »
    Yeah, but if they are separated a few hours in the early days, the cow has forgotten about the calf.

    I'm not sure what magical farms you've been visiting but from my experience on farms, both mother and calf bawl and call to each other for days, even weeks. I've even seen a couple of mothers make an attempt to escape/get to their young. Their cries are heartbreaking...


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    #36
    Chuchote
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,368 ✭✭✭Chuchote


    OldNotWIse wrote: »
    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" :(

    No need to 'dispose of' chicks in cruel ways, though.


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    #37
    _Brian
    Registered Users Posts: 18,515 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    Savvy student wrote: »
    I'm not sure what magical farms you've been visiting but from my experience on farms, both mother and calf bawl and call to each other for days, even weeks. I've even seen a couple of mothers make an attempt to escape/get to their young. Their cries are heartbreaking...

    Three to four days, weeks - no it never takes weeks.


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    #38
    ciara155
    Registered Users Posts: 1 ✭ciara155


    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.

    Honestly, the meat/dairy/egg industry don't want you knowing what happens because they make a profit from this, they really don't care. Some farmers do care about the welfare of their animals but certainly not about the rights of the animals. The government too, they fund these industry's billions because they make a profit from people buying the product. it's all supply and demand and it seems more people are finally realising the cruelty in these industry's.


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    #39
    joeKel73
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭joeKel73


    Does anyone know of any suppliers of free range eggs that don't cull the male chicks?

    Of course the added land use and feed costs would have to be factored into the costs but I'd be happy to pay for that. Since chick culling is generally not talked about or mentioned, it's very to find out who's doing what...


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    #40
    padair
    Registered Users Posts: 1,317 ✭✭✭padair


    J o e wrote: »
    Does anyone know of any suppliers of free range eggs that don't cull the male chicks?

    Of course the added land use and feed costs would have to be factored into the costs but I'd be happy to pay for that. Since chick culling is generally not talked about or mentioned, it's very to find out who's doing what...

    There is a new technique that will soon start to be used. Farms are able to scan the egg and can tell the sex of the chick before it has hatched. If it's male, it does not make it past egg and gets sold in supermarkets.


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    #41
    joeKel73
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭joeKel73


    padair wrote: »
    There is a new technique that will soon start to be used. Farms are able to scan the egg and can tell the sex of the chick before it has hatched. If it's male, it does not make it past egg and gets sold in supermarkets.

    Yeah that sounds great. In the interim it's hard to know who's doing what though...


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    #42
    OldNotWIse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,468 ✭✭✭✭OldNotWIse


    padair wrote: »
    There is a new technique that will soon start to be used. Farms are able to scan the egg and can tell the sex of the chick before it has hatched. If it's male, it does not make it past egg and gets sold in supermarkets.

    Pardon my ignorance, I thought the eggs we eat are unfertilized. Will they be scanning fertilized eggs and selling male ones to shops? Would we not be eating chicken foetus then? I feel like my head is spinning here lol


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    #43
    Musketeer4
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 657 ✭✭✭Musketeer4


    99% will cull the male chicks. They are no good for meat so are effectively a byproduct.


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    #44
    joeKel73
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭joeKel73


    Musketeer4 wrote: »
    99% will cull the male chicks. They are no good for meat so are effectively a byproduct.

    Yeah but where to find the 1%?


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    #45
    joeKel73
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭joeKel73


    OldNotWIse wrote: »
    Pardon my ignorance, I thought the eggs we eat are unfertilized. Will they be scanning fertilized eggs and selling male ones to shops? Would we not be eating chicken foetus then? I feel like my head is spinning here lol

    Yea padair has mixed up two processes a bit there. With the new system they will be able to tell the sex of the egg at the hatchery - fertilized eggs for the purpose of producing chicks.

    The eggs we eat are not fertilised (no rooster involved) and are produced for human consumption.

    The issue is that for every egg-laying female that hatches, there is about the same amount of male chicks that get culled as they are of no value to the industry.


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