The transport of live poultry involves significant welfare challenges including injury, thermal stress, hunger, thirst, and fear. Reforms to transport regulation and practice can substantially reduce this suffering.
Poultry transport welfare is a high-volume, high-impact issue that receives far less attention than housing conditions. The loading process involves rapid mechanical catching, inversion, and crating that causes broken bones in a significant proportion of birds. Transport itself exposes birds to temperature extremes, noise, vibration, and prolonged food and water deprivation. These are not incidental harms but systematic features of an industry optimised for cost and throughput. Reforms including mechanical harvesting, shorter journey limits, and better monitoring are technically feasible but require regulatory pressure and market demand.