I have been seeing a lot of animal abuse posts on here lately. I hadn't noticed 196 being like that in the past on here or Reddit. Is there a trend toward that for this community in general? I'm well aware of how fucked the industry is, but I also don't sub to this community for that. I am here for little gay people shit posting in my phone. These just make me sad. I can't personally do anything to stop this. I don't want to unsub, and there's not a great way to filter, unless it's all the same OP? :(
That's only in industrial egg production. If you're a local farmer and you need to dispose of the males, your go to quick and painless option might be a potato sack or your hands.
Haven't really seen it mentioned here, but for those who don't know, the male chicks are not used for chicken nuggets, but primarily for pet food or plant fertilizer. Also not every country does this practice. Not only that, but eliminating eggs from the human global diet would be unfeasible. This is because eggs are the best source of protein, with only whey protein coming second. They are also the only food with such a high protein content that also contains all essential nutrients. And before someone posts "but da beans!" - no, they're not on the same level. Although beans are a good source of protein, they're neither complete nor are they actually as high as they seem, because the protein they have isn't as bioavailable as that of eggs (speaking of, this is why there's certain practices in vegan diets to gain more nutrients, such as eating leafy greens with an acid to get more iron or soaking pecans to remove the pyric acid in them to absorb the minerals they have better).
Removing eggs from the world diet would actually lead to more ecological harm, even without more ethical chicken rearing practices becoming wider spread, because the amount of farm land needed to ensure proper nutrition for everyone with a mixed vegetable diet would be significantly higher than ensuring there's just enough eggs for everyone.
You don't like baby chicks getting ground up? Don't own carnivorous pets, and buy from more ethical egg farmers. Or if you can, honestly just get your own chicken or 2. You'll have enough eggs with even a single chicken to be honest. Hens don't need much space, males can be eaten once their 4am crowing drives you crazy - although they do keep the hens happy. If you can afford it or don't have very particular diet restrictions, go vegan - you probably don't need as much protein as you think. I used to be vegan until kidney failure, and now with a transplant am back to mostly vegetarian (at least for now until I can go back to being fully vegan). I also used to raise animals for food and farm because I came from a poor family initially. If you don't care, then just consider eating less meat and eggs will ya? Too much ain't good for your health either. Plus it'll taste better if you don't eat it every day. A weekend bbq is way more special when you haven't had meat the prior everyday.
I'd think they could genetically engineer the egg layers to only produce males in certain conditions (such as when they're incubated at a higher temperature), then only breed males when they need more roosters.
OR, if sex is selected by sperm type (as with humans) artificially inseminate the hens.
I suspect there are dozens of valid technical solutions that are cost effective and would allow them to not shred male chicks.