In September this year, the Swiss parliament decided to ban the killing of male chickens. The Federal Council introduced a corresponding amendment to the Regulation on the Protection of Animals from January 1, 2020.

As the Federal Council wrote, so-called homogenization is no longer allowed. Until now, males have suffered a painful death in a crushing machine. However, in recent years, this method has been used only in some hatcheries and in exceptional cases.

Swiss Veterinary Services are responsible for imposing a ban on crushing live chickens. As part of their monitoring activities, they will enforce the ban in their respective hatcheries. In addition, killing with CO2 remains permitted.

According to the Federal Council, an alternative to existing methods of killing is expected to take effect soon.

Thanks to the method of determining sex before hatching in the future, it will be possible to determine the sex of chickens at a very early stage after fertilization.

Thus, hatching eggs with male embryos can be eliminated at an early stage. Male laying hens will no longer hatch.

Currently, these methods are not widely used. However, several international companies and universities are researching and developing a commercial method for destroying eggs containing male embryos.