Nearly 8 Billion Male Chicks Culled Per Year: A Transparent Global Estimate (Faunalytics)

Faunalytics has published a new report estimating global male chick culling — the killing of male chicks in the egg industry, usually within hours of hatching — at 7.83 billion in 2024, up about 11% from 7.08 billion in 2019. Here's why it may interest this community.

Scale. At nearly 8 billion individuals a year, chick culling is one of the largest-scale animal welfare problems in the world. If male chicks were counted in global land-animal slaughter statistics, they'd rank second only to adult chickens — roughly 8.2% of the annual total. The welfare harm is well supported: recent research finds chicken embryos develop pain perception well before hatching, and day-old chicks are sentient and capable of suffering.

Why this estimate is different. The widely cited "7 billion" figure has circulated largely unchanged since around 2015, and we couldn't find a transparent bottom-up derivation for it. This report builds the number directly from FAOSTAT laying-bird data across 176 countries, using a simple model in which annual male culling is about 91% of the laying flock. It cross-validates against USDA hatchery data — the model's U.S. estimate of roughly 340 million males compares to about 320 million implied by USDA NASS figures. 

Neglectedness and tractability. Only 11% of consumers are even aware chick culling happens. Yet the solution — in-ovo sexing, which identifies embryo sex before hatching — is commercially proven, adds under one cent per egg, and already covers about 40% of E.U. laying hens. Consumer willingness to pay far exceeds the cost: 71% say they'd pay a premium, averaging 65 cents per dozen. That's an unusually favorable cost profile compared to, say, cage-free conversion at roughly 8 to 9 cents per egg.

The strategic picture. Bans are in force in Germany, France, and Austria (Italy from 2027), and an E.U.-wide proposal is expected in 2026. But roughly 70% of culling — and nearly all the growth — is in Asia, where in-ovo sexing adoption is close to zero. The report argues the highest-leverage long-term challenge is the "Asia bridge": technology transfer and cost reduction through manufacturing scale.

The report includes six advocacy recommendations. Full report: https://faunalytics.org/global-chick-culling-2019-2024/