The journey from farm to slaughterhouse is a significant welfare event for broiler chickens — involving catching, crating, transport, and lairage under stressful conditions.
Inversion and leg-grabbing during catching cause fractures, dislocations, and acute pain in birds with already-fragile skeletal systems. Even short transport journeys involve deprivation, crowding, and novel environments. The last hours of a broiler's life are typically the worst from a welfare perspective — a period that receives less regulatory attention than housing.