The brother should live.

That is Dietrich Hunsmann's goal.

It's about the brother of the laying hen, the male chick.

In industrial animal husbandry, the brothers of the laying hens die and the male chicks are shredded.

In those breeds that have been bred to perform well at laying eggs, the roosters are considered useless because they do not put on much meat and are therefore unsuitable for roasting chickens.

Jan Schiefenhövel

Freelance author in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Hunsmann, director of the Marjoss estate in Steinau, does not want to participate in the barbarism of shredding. That is why he has bought animals of a breed for keeping chickens on the farm, which experts call "dual-purpose chickens". These poultry are bred for a compromise, not a one-sided benefit. The female chicks become laying hens, the male offspring grow into broilers. In this way, both sexes can be kept with this breed of chicken. All animals survive, no chicks have to be shredded, as the manager of the estate happily explains.

This new breed is actually an old breed of chicken, more precisely a back breed.

Hens with white and brown plumage live on the Marjoss estate.

The bright animals, called "Cream", are created by crossing the Bresse chicken, the old Bresse Gauloise breed of chicken from France, with the New Hampshire breed.

The dark hens with the name "Coffee" are the result of a cross between Bresse chicken and White Rock chickens.

A compromise in favor of animal welfare

The attitude of “Coffee” and “Cream” is of course a compromise in favor of animal welfare, as the farm manager says. Because the hens do not lay as many eggs as high-performance hybrid breeds, 220 instead of 280 a year. The roosters do not put on quite as much meat as specimens from breeds that are specially bred for fattening. Therefore, the eggs of the dual-purpose chickens are slightly more expensive than eggs from conventional housing. In the case of roosters, consumers have to be satisfied with a slaughter weight of 1.8 kilograms instead of two and a half kilograms for pure broilers if the animals are slaughtered at around 17 weeks of age. Even so, the chickens can be eaten well, four of them have been satisfied with a rooster eaten on a trial basis, says Hunsmann. According to him, the meat has a strong taste,because the animals move more than pure broilers. Eventually, muscles that are moved more develop a more intense aroma.

The keeping of the dual-purpose chickens on the estate in Steinau is still an attempt.

Chickens have been kept there for a long time.

There is space for around 1,500 specimens in the six mobile stables, which can be placed on various meadows.

So far, one of the six stalls has been occupied with the new dual-purpose chickens.

Hunsmann and his staff are still gaining experience with keeping this breed.

For example, they try out whether feeding in the evening or in the morning is better for the animals.

Both sexes do not live on the farm at the same time.

The roosters come first in the spring.

When they are ready for slaughter, the laying hens move into the barn.

Products are also processed on the estate

The Marjoss estate has the freedom for such experiments, after all, the estate in the foothills of the Spessart is not a commercial operation that is forced to make a profit. The Main-Kinzig organization for the disabled is responsible for this. Around 50 people with intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses work in organic farming, as Hunsmann explains. When looking after the animals, they find meaningful employment and are trained. The aim is to find them on the regular job market. The farm keeps cattle, pigs, geese and sheep, and meadow orchards are cultivated. The clients not only work in the stable and on the meadow. The products are also processed on the estate itself. When the laying hens get old, they become soup hens that are cooked in vegetable broth.

But until then, the hens and roosters have to be protected out in the meadow, as Hunsmann says. With this animal-friendly type of husbandry, there is no risk of shredding, but there is a natural danger, namely from predatory animals in the vicinity. Martens target poultry, and a fox can even dig under an electric fence. And on the hill next door a hawk likes to lurk for fresh prey.