The slaughter of end-of-lay hens involves welfare challenges at catching, transport, and slaughter that receive less regulatory attention than production-phase welfare.
End-of-lay slaughter welfare has historically been a blind spot: producer attention and regulatory scrutiny concentrate on the productive period. Yet catching by hand in dim sheds causes acute pain through bone fractures; transport in crowded crates causes further trauma to already fragile birds; and slaughter methods vary enormously in their humaneness. The elimination of day-old male chick culling through in-ovo sexing represents one of the most significant recent welfare advances in egg production — preventing approximately 7 billion deaths annually in adopting countries. Extending humane slaughter requirements to end-of-lay hens and mandating better catching protocols represents the next frontier.