What are the consequences of Germany's ban on chick killing? | DW Documentary

Roosters bring little profit on the poultry market. They lay no eggs and produce little meat. So, many German hatcheries sell millions of chicks abroad. Animal welfare usually falls by the wayside.

Because they don't lay eggs, around 45 million male chicks used to be killed in Germany every year. This practice has been banned since 2022. Since then, many German egg cartons began carrying the label: "No chick killing.” But, if they aren’t being killed, where are the roosters now?

Rearing the animals is so expensive in Germany that most hatcheries simply cannot afford to keep the male chicks. The so-called ‘brother roosters’ are often sent abroad to be reared, often to Poland. But what are conditions like there? Animal welfare activists have evidence of serious abuses.
The fattened cockerels are then often sold to Africa. In Ghana, meat from Europe is usually cheaper than domestic poultry. But local Ghanaian breeders suffer massively from these cheap imports from Europe.

The film follows the trail from the hatching of the chicks in a German hatchery to rearing in Poland and sale to Ghana. The research shows: The ban on chick killing in Germany shifts the problems abroad and animal welfare is usually ignored. The law seems well-intentioned but poorly thought out.

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