Stephen Fry demands a stop to 'inhumane' killing of 45m day-old chicks a year (2025)

Each year in the UK around 45million day-old chicks are killed as they can't lay eggs and not suitable for meat production - but technology exists too stop these pointless deaths

Stephen Fry is speaking out to save chickens this Easter, backing a campaign urging the government to ban "the unnecessary and inhumane killing of male chicks".

Sweet images of fluffy chicks are everywhere right now. But every year in the UK, 40-45million day-old male chicks are killed - usually by gassing - simply because they cannot lay eggs and are not suitable for meat production. It is one of the most controversial issues in the laying hen industry. Narrating a new video, actor and broadcaster Stephen says: "Shockingly almost every egg you buy in the UK today involves the death of 45 million baby chicks. This wasteful and cruel practice is called hatch and dispatch.

"The food industry says it's unavoidable and these wasted lives are just a normal part of the process. But they are wrong. The technology exists today avoiding a brief life and a pointless death for millions of male chicks."

In-ovo sexing technology allows producers to determine the sex of a chick as early as Day 9 of incubation, enabling hatcheries to hatch only females, therefore eliminating the need to cull male chicks shortly after they are born.

The tech, already mandatory in France and Germany, has been used to eliminate the practice since the 2010s. It is likely Italy and the Netherlands will follow suit – in 2021, Italy approved a law to ban male chick culling by the end of 2026, while the Netherlands is currently debating doing the same.

Currently, "cull-free" eggs are not available in the UK apart from a handful of small-scale farm shops. A poll found 74% of Brits support ending the cull with this system - and would pay more. The government's Animal Welfare Committee analysis estimated it would equate to just 1p per egg.

CIWF estimates around seven billion male chicks are slaughtered globally by the egg-producing industry each year shortly after they are born.

Richard McIlwain, Vegetarian Society CEO, leading the campaign said: "For far too long, male chick culling has been an unavoidable, deeply concerning issue in the British food industry.

"The UK has always prided itself on leading the way in ethical food production and maintaining high every buy death million chicks animal welfare standards. We have the technology to ensure it becomes the case in the egg production industry.

"Ending the outdated and unnecessary practice of male chick culling is the next natural step, aligning with the values of the British agriculture industry and the public, and our European counterparts.

"With innovation at our fingertips, we have a real opportunity to make a lasting change for the better."

There is no reason why we should not be offered the chance to buy kinder, cull-free eggs.

Sign the petition to show your support at hatchanddispatch.vegsoc.org