ArticleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2026
Excess Cockerels in the Context of Legal Regulations, Animal Welfare and the Bioeconomy.
Article in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The global poultry industry faces a critical ethical and bioeconomic challenge regarding the annual culling of 6-7 billion day-old male layer chicks, which lack commercial value for mass meat production. This study critically evaluates European and global regulatory frameworks alongside the practical, economic, and ethical viability of alternative management strategies. While legislative bans in nations like Germany and France push for in ovo sexing technologies, and several systems are already operational across Europe, these methods currently impose substantial financial burdens and operational constraints that hinder their global commercial implementation. Alternative approaches, including rearing light-type cockerels or caponisation, frequently face significant sustainability challenges due to poor feed conversion ratios, prolonged production cycles, and inherent animal welfare concerns. Consequently, the immediate, worldwide integration of these technological alternatives remains challenging. This paper offers a pragmatic, bioeconomically stable recommendation: while in ovo systems continue to expand towards genuine high-throughput global viability, a sustainable approach-manual post-hatch sorting followed by immediate culling using methods permitted under current animal welfare legislation-may represent a transitional management option in jurisdictions where commercially viable in ovo sexing technologies are not yet available. Managed strictly as Category 3 animal by-products under Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009, the resulting material could potentially be directed to biogas plants to recover renewable energy. When implemented in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009, such an approach may provide a legally compliant pathway for recovering renewable energy while remaining consistent with current veterinary and environmental regulations.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.