They're Usually Shredded Alive Rule :( - Lemmy

They’re usually shredded alive almost immediately because they’re seen as “waste” since they don’t lay eggs For some more context: Why the egg industry ‘shreds’ baby chicks alive (NSFL) [https://youtu.be/zdvnDHKB7nA]

Dumb question maybe, but why not just let them get older and then eat them?

The industry kills them right away because they’re not selectively breeded to grow as fast as broilers do. Egg laying chicken have been selectively bred to lay high quantities of eggs instead

Due to modern selective breeding, laying hen strains differ from meat production strains (broilers).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_culling

As an aside, in both cases, the selective breeding has led to all kinds of health issues for these birds. Broilers can hardly walk due to being fast-growing. Egg laying chickens have all kind of bone health problems due to producing lots of eggs (takes a lot of calcium to produce an egg shell)

Chick culling - Wikipedia