SYDNEY (May 8, 2026)—Humane World for Animals Australia welcomes news that for the first time ever embryo (in-ovo) sexing technology is being introduced in the Australian egg industry to avoid the mass killing of male chicks.
The mass killing of male chicks is one of the hidden cruelties of the egg industry. Since male chicks are wanted neither for eggs nor meat, they are killed en masse when just one day old. An estimated 12 million chicks are either macerated (ground alive) or gassed every year in Australia.
To avoid this cruelty, Australia's largest hatchery, Specialised Breeders Australia and Agri Advanced Technologies GmbH, announced that they will use technology that can detect the sex of an embryo before it hatches, allowing the removal of eggs containing male chicks before pain perception develops. The technology uses hyperspectral imaging to differentiate between the feather colours of birds before they are hatched, which determines their gender. Other countries including Germany, France and Austria are already utilising this technology and have prohibited the killing of day-old male chicks.
Georgie Dolphin, Humane World for Animals Australia's program manager for animal welfare, says: "The mass killing of chicks in the egg industry is one of the many senseless horrors of industrial farming. Though other animal welfare problems in the egg industry persist, we will be relieved to see this technology adopted in Australia so that the mass killing of day-old chicks can finally cease.
"We look forward to Australian governments phasing out the mass killing of male chicks in the egg industry as soon as possible, in line with the commitment set out in the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry."
