PHOTO: DICK VAN DOORN
Together, the Eifel Ei cooperative has 27,000 barn hens, 90,000 free-range hens and 36,000 organic hens. As a coop- erative, it was decided in 2021 to become fully OKT certified, including the eggs from free-range and barn hens. As Eifel Egg cooperative, the poultry farms could also have opted for the in-ovo method, or sex determination in the hatching egg. Lehnertz: “We deliberately chose not to do this because some research shows that an embryo in an egg already has some kind of ‘sense’ on day 9. Not on day 6. As soon as it is possi- ble to determine the sex on day 6, as a cooperative, we can consider opting for the in-ovo method”.
Chicken goulash and stew Since January 2021, all eggs from the Eifel Egg cooperative have been OKT certified, including the eggs from barn hens and free-range hens. Lehnertz: “By the way, there is no distinction between barn and free-range hatchlings, so these chicks are raised together”. The male chicks from our non-organic farms go directly from the German hatchery to selected rooster growers in Germany or Poland. When raising male chicks, KAT certification must be met in Germany. All eggs supplied by the cooperative are subject to a surcharge of € 0.025. This surcharge is mainly used to compensate the rooster growers. The meat of male chicks with layer genetics is, of course, much more expensive than the meat from broil- ers. The male layer siblings will only reach a weight of 1450 grams after 14 weeks, at which point they are processed. Their meat is marketed in canned products (see photo) such as rooster meat, chicken goulash and chicken stew. Within a few weeks there will also be a quality seal on the cans with the words: Lecker (tasty) Lehnertz. Lehnertz: “And in terms of marketing, we also want to establish a clear link between
our table eggs in the supermarkets and the rooster meat”. The first 15,000 jars and cans are already on the shelves in German supermarkets.
Other EU countries to follow According to the German layer farmer, OKT certification will eventually become mandatory throughout the EU. “France wants to ban male culling starting in 2023 and Dutch laying hen companies that supply table eggs to our country must al- ready comply with German regulations. It is not an issue worldwide, but certain states in America – California, for ex- ample – are already thinking about OKT certification.” And even in Germany, OKT will move further forward as it has not yet been fully implemented in the egg trade. Lehnertz: “For table eggs we must comply with the OKT certification but eggs for the egg processing industry do not have to comply with OKT certification yet”.
Lambert Leh- nertz: “Both from the marketing and ideological perspective, we already started raising male lay- er sibling roost- ers sooner than was required”.
Canned chicken goulash and chicken stew, made from the meat of 14-week-old male layer sib- lings.
▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 5, 2022
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