White Hens
White laying hens are smaller, consume less feed, and lay more eggs throughout their lives than brown laying hens. This means fewer resources are needed per egg, resulting in lower CO₂ emissions. The request from Rondeel’s main customer, Albert Heijn, to supply white eggs brought a new challenge: how do you apply the existing ‘outcome in the barn’ principle to white laying breeds?
Hatching on the Farm
Since 2022, Rondeel has been applying the ‘on-farm hatching’ principle: chicks no longer hatch at hatcheries but directly in the barn. This means they are born in a calm, familiar environment with immediate access to feed and water. To date, over 100,000 chicks have successfully hatched this way, resulting in strong and healthy laying hens.
In collaboration with the rearing organization and Vencomatic, it has now been possible to apply this method to white laying breeds as well. This is an important step forward in improving animal welfare.
Innovation: Technology and Ethics Hand in Hand
To further improve welfare, Rondeel uses Genus Focus: an innovative MRI technology combined with artificial intelligence. This allows accurate differentiation between male and female chicks while still in the egg. In over 98% of cases, only laying hens hatch. This prevents the culling of day-old male chicks. Every chick born is allowed to live—under the label ‘Born to Live!®’.
This method is fully supported by the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals, which sees ‘hatching on the farm’ as an important step toward more animal-friendly poultry farming.
Results and Benefits
The switch to white eggs and on-farm hatching offers many advantages:
- Higher animal welfare: chicks are born in a familiar and hygienic environment.
- No more transport of chicks: they hatch directly in the barn.
- Natural integration into the Rondeel concept: without stress or unnatural transitions.
- Immediate access to feed and water.
- Lower ecological impact due to more efficient feed and energy use.