European egg producer Kipster has introduced its in-ovo sexing technology into the US.
The technology offers an alternative to culling male chicks at hatch by allowing sex determination of chick embryos during incubation.
The eggs with males are immediately removed once identified, which prevents the hatching and culling of the day-old male chicks as is common in the US egg industry.
Kipster is the second company in the US to use this approach and it comes as there are growing calls for the technology to be introduced in the UK.
A recent study found that more than three-quarters of Brits would choose to buy ‘cull-free’ eggs if they could, and would be willing to pay an extra 1p per egg to do so, which is what charity The Vegetarian Society said it would cost.
The US egg industry kills over 350 million male chicks each year after they hatch. They are deemed useless as they do not lay eggs and are not bred to put on as much weight as fast as broiler chickens.
Read more: Three-quarters of Brits want to switch to ‘cull-free’ eggs, new report finds
Kipster’s goal is to give roosters a place in the food system, thereby making use of all animals born into its poultry farms.
When the European egg producer opened its first farm in 2022 it did not cull male chicks, similar to its approach in Europe. However, the company said it had to resort to doing so for the first time in 2024 due to a lack of suitable infrastructure and retail market for males from breeds commonly used for egg production.
“We’re disappointed that we haven’t yet succeeded in raising male chicks in the US,” said Ruud Zanders, co-founder and co-CEO of Kipster. “We see this as a shortcoming on our part – a failure to fully live up to our own vision. But allowing chicks to hatch only to be immediately gassed or macerated – standard industry practice in the US – is simply not an option for us. That’s why we’re turning to in-ovo sexing as a temporary alternative.”
The company said this would enable it to stay true to its values around animal welfare and waste reduction while continuing to work towards a more structural solution.
Male embryos that are not identified with the technology, about 0.5% or roughly 150-200 chicks, will be raised at a farm, meaning that Kipster’s flock will be free of chick culling.
The first eggs produced by in-ovo sexed hens will be coming to the market in early 2026, and it will take at least a year before all Kipster eggs will be free of male chick culling.
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