"If we imagine a chick in a blender, none of us would ever turn it on," said its campaign director Emma Hurst. "This is a gruesome death; they are fully capable of feeling pain, stress and fear." NSW Farmers Egg Committee chairman Bede Burke with a new delivery of 27,000 day-old chicks. Credit:Paul Mathews Egg producers around the world are being pressured to phase out chick culling with the development of multiple technologies that allow the sex of a chick to be determined while in the egg. In the US last month, United Egg Producers pledged to stop the mass culling of male chicks by 2020, or as soon as it's "economically feasible" and an alternative is "commercially available". In Australia, about 12 million male chicks are shredded or gassed to death each year because they're deemed "useless" - they can't lay eggs or be raised for meat.

The footage of maceration, as well as sorting and de-beaking, was recorded inside a hatchery near Bendigo, Victoria, operated by Specialised Breeders Australia (SBA), which accounts for up to 70 per cent of the 13 million female chicks hatched and sold to egg farmers each year. Male chicks on a conveyor belt at a Specialised Breeders Australia hatchery in Victoria. Credit:Animal Liberation Its chief executive Richard Rayner confirmed its use of maceration, which he said was an RSPCA-approved and government-endorsed method under the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals. "We acknowledge this is an issue and are looking forward to adopting new technology as soon as it becomes commercially available where male embryos can be identified during incubation," said its chief executive Richard Rayner. Male chicks drop to their deaths at a Specialised Breeders Australia facility in Victoria. Credit:Animal Liberation

"This will eliminate the current practice." The pledge by ​United Egg Producers came after lengthy talks with the animal welfare group The Humane League, based in Philadelphia. Chick emerges from an egg. Credit:act\ian.warden The Humane League has now set its sights on egg industries outside of the US, pursuing a similar commitment and timeline from SBA. "We would like to see Australia follow the US egg industry's lead in ending the practice of gassing and grinding male chicks," its campaign director Aaron Ross told Fairfax Media.

"SBA has been responsive to our requests and reported that they are discussing this issue and will be following up with us at the end of this month, however we cannot confirm that they will have reached a decision by that time." Fairfax Media has previously reported Australia's egg industry is reluctant to make similar commitments. Bede Burke, a caged egg farmer and chair of the NSW Farmers' Egg Committee, said he didn't support the 2020 deadline set by United Egg Producers. "As soon as the technology is right and it's affordable it will happen straight away. Whether that's 2020, 2017 or 2025 we don't know," he said. Earlier, German and Dutch scientists revealed they had developed "in-ovo sexing", which involves analysing chemical biomarkers to determine the sex of a chick on the ninth day of incubation.

In March, CSIRO researchers Tim Doran and Mark Tizard said they could micro-inject an embryo and place a green fluorescent protein gene on the male chromosome. A chick will hatch from the micro-injected egg and be used to start a new breeding flock. Females from this flock are then included in a breeding program for layer hens and the male offsprings will be identified by the fluoro mark. "The industry will want to know how efficient the process is, how expensive it is, how easily it can be integrated into current practice and what the consumer will make of it," said Dr Tizard. "We believe or technology hits most of the marks but only industry knows how it fits their business model and they will make the final decision." Mr Rayner said he was open to both forms of pre-hatch sex identification.

He said the shredded male chicks go into an organic waste stream. "In some countries they're turned into pet food, but the problem here is separating the egg shells from the waste stream. If we practice it here, it could go into pet food, yes," he said. ​The RSPCA said it preferred grinding over gassing, as the latter, depending on the gas mixture, could result in chicks gasping and shaking their heads for up to two minutes. Australian Greens spokesperson for animal welfare Senator Lee Rhiannon urged the government, which has prioritised innovation, to fast-track existing technology to end maceration. "The technology to sex chicken eggs in the egg industry needs to be made affordable and widely available," she said.