Broiler Chicken Transport Welfare: The Journey to Slaughter

The transport of broiler chickens to slaughter represents a critical welfare event involving capture, loading, journey stress, and thermal challenges affecting billions of birds annually.

Key Facts

Approximately 70 billion broiler chickens are slaughtered globally each year, all requiring transport.
Birds are typically caught by hand or mechanical catchers in the dark to reduce stress.
Manual catching frequently causes wing and leg fractures, bruising, and dislocations.
Journey times can range from under an hour to over 12 hours in some jurisdictions.
EU regulations limit transport to 12 hours, but exemptions and enforcement failures occur.
Temperature extremes during transport are a primary cause of mortality — birds can die of heat stress or cold.
At the slaughterhouse, birds may be held in containers for hours awaiting slaughter.
Pre-slaughter mortality rates of 0.1-0.5% represent millions of birds dying before reaching the kill line.

Welfare Considerations

Transport is one of the highest welfare-risk periods in the broiler's short life. The combination of catching stress, injury during loading, novel environment, loss of access to food and water, temperature fluctuations, and noise creates a cumulative welfare burden. Birds with existing leg problems — common in fast-growing breeds — experience transport as particularly painful. Pre-slaughter mortality is a direct welfare indicator: each dead-on-arrival bird represents an animal that suffered and died before any stunning could occur. Improved catching methods (mechanical systems, skilled handlers), shorter journey times, temperature-controlled vehicles, and reduced holding times all offer meaningful welfare improvements.

What You Can Do

Support welfare certification schemes that set maximum transport time and temperature standards.
Choose higher-welfare chicken products from slower-growing breeds with lower transport mortality.
Advocate for enforceable transport regulations with mandatory mortality recording and reporting.
Support mechanical catching system adoption that reduces physical injury during loading.
Push for slaughter plant proximity to farms to reduce journey times.
Ask retailers and food service providers about transport welfare standards in their supply chains.