Dame Joanna Lumley has called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to help end the “cruel and completely unnecessary” practice of male chick culling, which kills an estimated 45 million chicks every year in the UK.
The Absolutely Fabulous star wants the Prime Minister to set out a timeline to end the “barbaric” practice by adopting in-ovo sexing technology, which is already widely used in countries including France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Call for leadership on animal welfare
Dame Joanna said: “I urge Andy Burnham to show true leadership on animal welfare and help bring an end to the cruel and completely unnecessary practice of killing millions of male chicks every year. Around the world, countries are switching to in-ovo sexing technology, a far more ethical and efficient alternative. The UK is lagging behind, and millions more baby chicks are paying the price for this delay. I call on the Prime Minister to commit to a clear timeline for ending this barbaric practice once and for all.”
The technology allows the sex of chicks to be identified while they are still in the egg. It was trialled on a small scale at a major UK hatchery last year, but no further updates have been announced.
Government position and campaign pressure
In December 2025, the Government’s animal welfare strategy stated that it “would like to see an end to the practice of killing day-old chicks”, but nothing specific has been announced. In July 2026, the Government said it was continuing to monitor progress in in-ovo sexing technology.
Jenny Canham, public affairs lead at The Vegetarian Society, said: “The pressure on the UK Government and egg industry to act to end cruel male chick culling once and for all is growing.
“The UK is now falling further behind the rest of the world while we continue to allow the killing of millions of baby male chicks in the egg industry. The longer the delay in transitioning to in-ovo sexing technology, the more chicks who will be killed simply because they cannot lay eggs.
“The public wants to see an end to this cruel and unnecessary practice as soon as possible. The UK Government and egg industry must act now and set out a clear timetable to end male chick culling by 2028.”
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “Our Animal Welfare strategy is driving forward better conditions for animals, including working closely with the egg industry to encourage best practice.
“We welcome any trials of technology that advance this shared goal.”
