Poultry Catching and Loading: A Critical Welfare Moment

The catching and loading of broiler chickens for slaughter is one of the most welfare-significant yet least regulated events in poultry production. Done manually or mechanically at night, it causes high rates of injury, fear, and mortality.

Key Facts

Approximately 70 billion chickens are caught and transported to slaughter globally each year
Manual catching involves workers grabbing birds by one or both legs — a method associated with wing, leg, and hip fractures
Studies show 10-30% of broilers sustain injuries during catching and transport, depending on catching method and handler training
Mechanical harvesting machines reduce some injuries but can increase others in poorly managed operations
Catching typically occurs at night to reduce bird activity — but stress responses (elevated corticosterone) remain high
Pre-slaughter mortality — birds dead on arrival — runs at approximately 0.1-0.5% of total birds transported, representing tens of millions of deaths annually

Welfare Considerations

Catching is a welfare crisis point because it combines multiple stressors simultaneously: physical handling, inversion, unfamiliar human contact, vibration, noise, and crowding in crates — all experienced by animals whose entire life has been sedentary. Fast-growing broiler breeds have reduced skeletal strength, making fractures during catching more likely and more painful. The economic pressure to catch quickly — typically 8,000-15,000 birds per hour per catching crew — conflicts directly with gentle handling. Welfare improvements include mandatory catcher training and certification, video monitoring of catching operations, maximum loading density regulations for transport crates, and financial incentives for farms achieving below-average dead-on-arrival rates. Some high-welfare certifications now specify maximum catching speeds.

What You Can Do

Choose chicken certified to standards that include transport welfare requirements and maximum dead-on-arrival benchmarks
Support policy campaigns for mandatory catcher training and certification in poultry industries
Advocate for video monitoring requirements at poultry catching operations, not just at slaughterhouses
Reduce chicken consumption or shift to higher-welfare certified products to create market incentives for reform