Pre-Slaughter Lairage and Poultry Welfare

The period from farm arrival to slaughter is a critical welfare window for poultry; lairage conditions, shackle hang time, and pre-slaughter handling all affect bird welfare significantly.

Key Facts

Poultry at slaughter are typically shackled upside down by their legs on a moving line
Live shackling causes acute pain from joint strain, especially in heavy broilers
Water bath stunning is widely used but efficacy is variable; some birds enter the blade conscious
Controlled Atmosphere Killing (CAK) using inert gas is considered more humane than electrical stunning
Shackle-free systems using CAK on crates are being adopted by higher-welfare operations

Welfare Considerations

Shackling live poultry upside down causes immediate pain and distress from leg strain, dislocation, and wing flapping attempts. Birds hung for extended periods before stunning suffer proportionally more. Water bath electrical stunning is unreliable and a proportion of birds regain consciousness before killing. CAK systems using inert gas mixtures cause unconsciousness in seconds and are widely regarded as the most humane available technology. Welfare at slaughter is an area where technology improvements can have rapid, large-scale impact.

What You Can Do

Support campaigns for mandatory CAK adoption in poultry slaughter
Advocate for mandatory pre-slaughter welfare monitoring including effective stunning verification
Choose poultry from producers committed to higher-welfare slaughter methods
Support research into shackle-free lairage and handling systems
Reduce poultry consumption to lower demand for intensive slaughter operations