Male chick killing & piglet castration bans
Law & Regulation
In Effect
February 24, 2020
Summary
Between February 2020 and February 2022, France adopted a regulatory package conditioning on-farm killing of male chicks and surgical castration of piglets through two sets of instruments.
Piglet castration: The arrêté du 24 février 2020, amending the 16 January 2003 order establishing minimum standards for pig protection, set a ban on surgical castration of male piglets “à vif” (without anaesthesia or analgesia) with effect from 1 January 2022. A supplementary arrêté du 17 novembre 2021 and associated technical instruction specified practical modalities applicable from the same date. From 1 January 2022, surgical castration of male piglets is state to be permitted only: (a) with local anaesthesia and post-operative analgesia using authorised medicinal products, or (b) via immunocastration (vaccination protocols suppressing testicular testosterone production). Piglet holders, their employees, group technicians, or animal-welfare referents may castrate male piglets up to 7 days of age under derogation if they complete mandatory training and apply local anaesthetic plus analgesia; above 7 days or outside training conditions, only registered veterinarians may perform the procedure. Castration remains authorised for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes, and for production-related reasons including quality labels, origin designations, contractual obligations, buyer specifications, or direct-sale arrangements. Producers may also rear entire males or use immunocastration as alternatives.
Male chick killing: Décret n° 2022-137 of 5 February 2022, published in the Journal officiel on 6 February 2022, prohibits the killing of male chicks from laying-hen lines of Gallus gallus (table-egg production lines) by maceration (broyage) or gas outside slaughterhouses from 1 January 2023, after a transition period through 31 December 2022. The decree requires hatcheries to have installed or ordered in-ovo sexing (sexage en œuf) systems or equivalent methods enabling sex determination by day 15 of incubation within the transition period. Derogations permit continued killing of male chicks in certain circumstances, including chicks intended for animal feed and specified biological or scientific uses. Chicks from broiler (meat-type) lines are not covered by the prohibition. The French government indicated approximately 50 million male chicks were killed annually in the egg sector prior to the decree, and announced around 10 million euros of public funding to co-finance in-ovo sexing equipment. Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie publicly announced the ban in July 2021, framing it as a joint initiative with Germany and part of a broader effort toward an EU-wide prohibition. Both instruments are enforced by Directions départementales de la protection des populations (DDPP); sanctions for non-compliance with the chick-killing decree are contraventions under the Rural Code.
Background Context
Before the February 2020 order, French pig production widely used surgical castration of male piglets without anaesthesia to limit boar taint in pork, in line with practice across EU member states. EU legislation permitted surgical castration of piglets up to 7 days by non-veterinarians under certain conditions without mandating anaesthesia. A European declaration in 2010 had aimed at ending surgical castration of pigs by 2018 but was not implemented EU-wide, leaving national action as the operative mechanism. The French Ministry of Agriculture conducted consultations with industry stakeholders and NGOs from at least 2018 on alternatives including entire-male rearing, immunocastration, and castration with pain management.
Before the February 2022 decree, French egg production hatcheries used the standard commercial practice of killing day-old male chicks from laying-hen lines by maceration or gas; EU Directive 1999/74/EC and Regulation 1099/2009 set general welfare and killing standards but did not prohibit sex-based culling of day-old chicks. CNR BEA (Centre national de référence pour le bien-être animal) and the French Platform for Animal Welfare (FRCAW) documented and debated chick culling practices and in-ovo sexing alternatives from at least 2019–2021. Germany committed contemporaneously to ending male chick culling, and Franco-German coordination at EU level provided political framing for the French measure. Parliamentary questions in the National Assembly and European Parliament indicated legislative scrutiny throughout 2022.
System Impact
Direction
Neutral / Administrative
Type
Modifies Conditions
Significance
Moderate
The arrêté du 24 février 2020 was signed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrifood and published February 2020, setting 1 January 2022 as the operative date for ending castration without anaesthesia. The arrêté du 17 novembre 2021 specified practical modalities from the same date. From 1 January 2022, DDPP and veterinary services are responsible for controlling compliance at pig farms; the Ardèche prefecture guidance (2023) confirms the regime remains applicable. Décret n° 2022-137 was adopted by the Prime Minister’s office on 5 February 2022 and published in the Journal officiel on 6 February 2022. During 2022, the transition provisions required hatcheries to install or order in-ovo sexing equipment; the prohibition on maceration/gas killing of male chicks from laying-hen lines entered full effect from 1 January 2023. Parliamentary questions in late 2022 raised concerns about derogations but did not result in suspension or repeal of the decree. No legal challenges annulling or suspending either the chick-killing decree or the piglet castration orders are documented in sources consulted.
Anticipated Effects
If the chick-killing decree is implemented as written and in-ovo sexing is applied comprehensively to designated lines, the number of hatched male chicks from laying-hen lines killed by maceration or gas in hatcheries would decrease, with male embryos instead destroyed in ovo before hatch. The total number of male birds destroyed would remain substantial given derogations for animal feed and the continued reliance on female-specific laying lines.
If the piglet castration orders are implemented as written, surgical castration would only continue under anaesthesia and analgesia or via immunocastration, potentially increasing per-animal intervention costs and time; some producers may shift to entire-male rearing where contractual and market conditions allow.
Whether these measures have produced measurable changes in egg sector hatchery throughput, pig meat production volumes, or the distribution of castration methods across French pig farms is not established in available sources.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Neutral / Administrative (impact direction) because both instruments modify the conditions and permitted methods under which male chick killing and piglet castration occur, without documented reduction in egg or pig meat production volumes or in the total number of animals in those systems. The chick-killing decree redirects killing from maceration/gas of hatched chicks toward in-ovo embryo destruction; the piglet castration orders permit castration to continue under specified anaesthesia and analgesia conditions. Available sources do not document changes in overall egg or pig production outputs in France attributable to these measures.
Assigned Modifies Conditions (impact type) because the primary mechanism is specifying the conditions, methods, and permitted circumstances under which male chick killing (outside slaughterhouses, by specified methods) and piglet castration (only with anaesthesia and analgesia, or via immunocastration) may occur within continuing exploitation systems.
Assigned Moderate significance because the instruments apply to entire national sectors: all French hatcheries supplying laying-hen lines (approximately 50 million male chicks annually targeted) and all French pig farms conducting surgical castration. The measures induce widespread changes in equipment, procedures, and training obligations across two significant agricultural sectors, but do not remove major production channels or clearly reduce animal numbers in the exploitation system within available evidence.
Impact direction is Neutral / Administrative; the trajectory sentence is not applicable.
Within The System
Key Actors
The Ministry of Agriculture and Agrifood (Ministère de l’Agriculture et de l’Alimentation) drafted and issued the piglet castration orders (February 2020 and November 2021). The Prime Minister’s office signed Décret n° 2022-137 for male chick killing (February 2022). Minister Julien Denormandie announced the male chick killing ban publicly in July 2021. DDPP are the enforcement authorities for both instruments. CNR BEA published explanatory notes on both measures. IFIP (Institut du porc) and professional pig industry organisations provided technical context on alternatives. Fondation Brigitte Bardot and other NGOs publicly commented on derogations in the chick-killing decree.
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