Poultry Catching and Handling at Slaughter

The catching and loading of broiler chickens for slaughter is associated with injury and distress that affects hundreds of millions of birds annually.

Key Facts

Manual catching of broilers by teams of catchers working at night is standard practice
Studies find injury rates of 4-7% of birds during manual catching operations
Mechanical catching machines reduce injury rates compared to manual catching in most studies
Birds are transported inverted in crates, causing wrist and joint injuries from shackling at plant
Night catching reduces bird activity and stress compared to daytime operations

Welfare Considerations

Manual catching of broilers involves teams of workers grabbing birds by their legs and carrying them inverted to transport crates. Struggling birds suffer dislocated hips, fractured wings, and haemorrhaging from rough handling. Night catching reduces bird activity but does not eliminate injury risk. The scale of catching operations — over 1 billion broilers annually in the UK — means that even small injury rate reductions affect millions of individual welfare outcomes. Mechanical catching and improved crate systems offer welfare improvements.

What You Can Do

Support mandatory mechanical catching requirements for commercial broiler operations
Advocate for catching injury rates to be monitored and published
Choose BCC-certified chicken that includes catching and transport welfare requirements
Back welfare officer oversight of catching and loading operations
Support research into catching methods that minimise injury rates