This special report is based on the proceedings of a workshop organised by the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture, the Institute for Animal Science, Mariensee and the Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL), on ‘Management of newly hatched male chicks from layers.’

The background was the fact that in Europe each year, about 280 million male chicks from layers are culled immediately after hatching. In Germany and in other countries, this has resulted in some public concern and political discussion. The objective of the workshop was to summarise and exchange current knowledge on sex determination and sex diagnosis in chicken with special emphasis on potential alternatives to culling male layer chicks.