Poultry transport is a welfare-critical stage during which birds are highly vulnerable to thermal stress, injury and mortality — with significant variation in outcomes based on management quality.
Poultry transport welfare involves a cascade of handling events, each with welfare implications. Live-catching from shed floors causes stress and potential injury; crating produces crowding and novel environment exposure; transport in vehicles subjects birds to vibration, noise and thermal challenge; arrival and unloading add further handling. The entire process takes place on birds that have never experienced any of these stimuli during their 6-week lives. Welfare improvements at each stage — improved catching technique, vehicle ventilation standards, driver monitoring capability — reduce the total burden. Controlled atmosphere systems that stun birds in their transport module bypass the entire live-handling process and represent the most comprehensive welfare improvement available.