“France becomes the first country in the world – with Germany – to put an end to the elimination of male chicks in the breeding chains of hens intended for the production of eggs”, trumpets the Ministry of Agriculture. Announced several times, from the start of the five-year term, the government published on February 6 a decree ending the culling of male chicks for species intended for egg production.
Five hatcheries – these companies specializing in egg incubation and which supply French farms with day-old chicks – are concerned in France. They have until the end of 2022 to implement alternatives to this systematic elimination of male chicks. Fifty million are killed each year in France. Crushed in the past, “they are gassed today”, specifies Loïc Coloumbel, vice-president of the National Committee for Egg Promotion (CNPO)the French egg interprofession.
“Killed because not economically recoverable”
For Léopoldine Charbonneaux, director of CIWF France, an NGO, which promotes farming practices that respect animal welfare, this does not detract from the “waste” that this practice represents, “a symbol of an ultra-productivist system in which chicks are systematically killed quite viable. This is the problem with the breeds of hens used today for egg production. They were shaped little by little, genetically, to have females capable of laying eggs at a high rate. But the males make little flesh and remain small in size, so they are considered unsuitable for meat production, unlike other strains specialized in fattening.
This decree of February 5 then aims to exempt the brothers of laying hens from being born to die immediately. Hatcheries have until March 1 to justify orders for ovosexing equipment or any other means to meet the objective set, details the text. Then until June 1 to start work.
Ovosexing to determine the sex from the egg
Ovosexing? The term designates the techniques that make it possible to determine the sex of future chicks from the egg and thus eliminate those containing male embryos. “It was science fiction until recently,” begins Ségolène Guerrucci. But techniques do exist today. The director of the National Union of Hatcheries (SNA), cites two main ones: that of Seleggt and that ofAgri Advanced Technology (AAT). The first is to laser drill a small hole in the shell of the egg and take a drop of liquid inside. This is then analyzed to find out if it contains hormones specific to males or females. The second, for its part, uses hyperspectral imaging technology which will make it possible to determine the color of the first feathers that appear on the embryo. “And according to this color, we can determine, again, the sex of the future chick”, indicates Loïc Coloumbel.
These two methods each have their advantages and disadvantages. They differ especially in not intervening at the same stage of incubation. On the ninth day (out of 21) for Seleggt and on the 13th day for AAT. A fundamental point. “The earlier the techniques allow the sex of the embryo to be determined, the more expensive they are”, explain Loïc Coloumbel and Ségolène Guerrucci. “But we are also certain that the elimination is without suffering for the embryo”, adds Léopoldine Charbonneaux, recalling that “we do not yet know from how many days the embryo begins to have cerebral activity which gives him sensitivity to pain.
It was CIWF France’s first criticism of this decree of February 5. “It gives hatcheries the possibility of determining the sex of the embryo up to the fifteenth day of incubation, explains the director of NGOs. It’s really late. However, techniques are already operational to intervene earlier. And others are in the research phase and would make it possible to act on D 7, at a stage where it is certain that the elimination of the egg would not cause any suffering. »
What about dual-purpose chickens?
A second disappointment for the CIWF is the primacy that France seems to give, in this decree, to ovosexing. There is, however, another alternative that the NGO would like to see much more highlighted: the development of so-called “dual” strains or hens for two purposes. “In other words, species whose females lay less than the breeds designed for them but still enough to be bred for this purpose and whose males especially take on enough flesh for there to be an economic interest in fattening them”, explains Leopoldine Charbonneaux.
Such hens exist. Particularly in Switzerland where organic farms have started raising them in recent years and from which Coop, cooperative society of large distributionpartly sources both eggs and meat, years as part of an experiment launched in 2014. Developing these dual strains is not the easiest alternative to implement. “Swiss experimentation is not necessarily transferable to France, given the size of production,” says Ségolène Guerrucci. We would potentially end up in France with millions of additional cockerels for which specific processing tools would have to be developed. We also need to find a market for them knowing that they remain smaller than standard broilers and do not necessarily meet our consumption habits. »
The missed opportunity to review our farming methods?
Léopoldine Charbonneaux conceives that “economic profitability is more difficult to find with dual-purpose hens and that there is still research and experimentation to be carried out. “But this solution also has the advantage of pushing us to rethink our farming methods, even if it means producing less but better,” says the director of CIWF France. Ovosexing does not encourage this reflection. It’s just a bandage that we apply to better stay in an intensive system whose negative externalities are far from being limited to the elimination at birth of millions of male chicks. »
The door is not officially closed to dual strains in France. The Ministry of Agriculture cites this alternative among those that can be implemented in hatcheries by 2022. But ovosexing remains presented as the main one. “It is also the solution towards which the hatcheries concerned have turned, some having already commissioned the first machines”, indicates Ségolène Guerrucci. On several occasions, professional unions in the poultry sector have warned of the high cost of these investments and the consequences that this will have on the organization of the sector and on the price of a box of eggs on the shelves (see box). “It would be a problem for us to be asked tomorrow to change techniques”, then slips Ségolène Guerrucci. The decree took care to reassure them on this point by providing for the “non-questioning of the technologies chosen by the hatcheries for five years”
A ban that will be seen on the price of the box of eggs?
The overall cost of implementing these ovosexing techniques is estimated, for the entire sector, at 15 million euros. A cost that the State partly supports, in particular through the France recovery plan which has already dedicated an envelope of 10.5 million euros to it. “But these 15 million euros only concern the total reorganization of the hatcheries involved in the installation of ovosexing machines, continues Loïc Coulombel, vice-president of the CNPO. But these machines will remain the property of the companies that designed them and will provide a service that the hatcheries will pay for over time. The price will then vary according to the number of ovosexed eggs. »
The price increase for the consumer should ultimately be between 2 and 4 euro cents per box of six eggs. An increase which will be added to that already expected by the sector at the start of the year, from 12 to 30 cents, in response to the increase in the cost of poultry feed. Too much for French consumers? “Eggs will remain the cheapest protein,” recalls Loïc Coulombel. “And for shell eggs, the French are attached to the” product in France “, adds Ségolène Guerrucci who is not too afraid as well as consumers on eggs imported from countries where the ban on the elimination of male chicks is not still applied. “On the other hand, in the market [œufs vendus à destination de l’agroalimentaire” target=”_blank”>des ovo-produits [œufs vendus à destination de l’agroalimentaire]we have much more competition from abroad and contracts can be lost for a penny too much”, she continues.