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New process could end culling of male chicks
The SELEGGT process negates the need to incubate male eggs and cull them on hatching.
Gender can now be identified in hatching eggs 

Germany could be one step closer to ending the culling of male chicks in hatcheries, as scientists introduce a new method of gender identification.

In Germany alone, 45 million male chicks from laying hen breeds are culled each year as they do not fatten enough meat. The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) provided a €5 million grant to develop a method of gender identification in hatching eggs.

Now market-ready, the process - developed by SELEGGT - negates the need to incubate male eggs and cull them on hatching. It uses a laser to burn a hole of no more than 0.3mm into the shell of the hatching egg. A small amount of allantois fluid is then placed on a patented marker outside the hatching egg.

A colour change indicates the presence of the hormone estrone sulphate, which shows that the developing egg is female. The egg does not need to be resealed after identification, as the inner membrane mends itself and closes the tiny hole from within.

Only female chicks will hatch on the 21st day after incubation; male eggs will be separated and processed into animal feed. According to SELEGGT, the test has an accuracy rate of around 98 per cent.

Federal minister of food and agriculture, Julia Klöckner, commented: “This is a great day for animal welfare in Germany! In this way we will set the pace in Europe…

“…once the process is made available to all and the hatcheries have implemented the process, there will be no reason and no justification for chick culling.”

The first table eggs from laying hens that have gone through the process are now available in 223 REWE and PENNY stores in Berlin. A national launch is planned for all of the REWE Group’s 5,500 stores in Germany in the upcoming year.

SELEGGT is working on a business model to make the technology available to the industry as a cost-neutral service. The patented process will be available to the first hatcheries in 2020.

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RCVS Knowledge appoints Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence.

A world-renowned expert in evidence-based veterinary medicine, Prof Cockcroft will lead the strategic development and editorial quality of the open-access journal. He was previously in the role from 2017-2020.

Katie Mantell, CEO of RCVS Knowledge, said: "We are excited about the extensive knowledge of evidence-based veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary research that Peter brings, and we look forward to working with him over this next phase of the journal's development." 

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CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.