Poultry Catching and Loading Welfare

The catching and loading of broiler chickens before transport to slaughter is a high-stress welfare event that causes significant injury and fear.

Key Facts

Approximately 1 billion broilers are caught and loaded for transport in the UK each year
Manual catching involves grabbing birds by the legs and carrying them inverted, causing distress and injury
Wing fractures and haemorrhages are common catching injuries in manually caught birds
Automated catching machines are increasingly used but can also cause injury if poorly calibrated
Dead on arrival rates at slaughter are partly driven by catching and transport stress
Night-time catching under dim light reduces bird activity and some measures of stress
Catcher training and supervision significantly affects the injury rates and stress levels during catching

Welfare Considerations

Catching and loading is a brief but intensely stressful welfare event for every broiler chicken that goes to slaughter. Birds are grabbed, inverted, carried, and loaded into transport modules in rapid succession, with catchers under pressure to maintain high throughput. The handling causes acute fear through inversion and restraint, and frequently causes physical injuries including wing fractures, haemorrhages, and dislocations. At the scale of commercial poultry production, even low injury rates translate into millions of birds experiencing unnecessary welfare harm. Training catchers in appropriate technique, setting maximum handling time per bird, and ensuring adequate supervision are practical welfare improvements. Transitioning to controlled atmosphere stunning on-farm before transport would eliminate much of this welfare problem but requires significant capital investment.

What You Can Do

Support poultry welfare standards that include catching method requirements and injury rate monitoring
Ask poultry producers about their catching methods and catcher training standards
Advocate for controlled atmosphere on-farm stunning as a welfare-positive alternative to live transport
Support research into automated catching system design that reduces bird injury rates
Engage with poultry industry consultations on catching welfare improvements