Ban culling of hatched male chicks.

328
signatures
closedDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsOpened 27 October 2025Closed 27 April 2026

Background

We believe chicks do not need to hatch only to be killed within hours. We believe there is no longer any need to cull hatched male chicks, the technology exists via in-ovo sexing which we feel needs to be mandated.

Additional details

Chicks are born with fully functioning nervous systems - they feel absolutely everything both physically and mentally. They feel nervous when handled aggressively, so the pain they feel during culling is unimaginable. The three forms of culling are maceration, (being thrown into what is effectively a blender) gas killing and suffocation. In-ovo sexing shows the gender of the egg before hatching. We think this technology needs to be mandated.

Where it’s popular

Constituencies with the most signatures on this petition.

Source: UK Government & Parliament Petitions service. Petition ID: 743065.