Novel techniques make culling male layers obsolete

For years there has been heated debate surrounding the killing of male layer chicks immediately after hatching. But with techniques that could determine sex before hatch only available on a lab scale, the debate was going nowhere. Now that these methods are reaching maturity, the situation is changing. The discussion in society about killing day-old chicks (DOCs) has heightened in Europe in recent years and this is why Switzerland last year banned the gasification and shredding of newborn male