The hatchery

Last updated 6 August 2020

The hatchery is where fertile eggs are incubated until they hatch.

Eggs are incubated for a total of 21 days before hatching. Once hatched, broiler chickens are sorted to remove any deformed, sick or abnormal chickens. The chicks that are removed are then killed on-site.

The two most common methods used for killing defective chicks are maceration and carbon dioxide.

A macerator is a large industrial machine that grinds chickens up alive. Chicks killed with carbon dioxide are put into small gas chambers into which the CO2 is released, suffocating them.