The transport of live poultry for slaughter or breeding involves significant welfare risks including thermal stress, injury, and mortality, with improvements achievable through regulation and best practice.
Poultry transport represents a concentrated welfare problem because it combines multiple stressors, namely catching, loading, crowding, vibration, temperature extremes, feed and water withdrawal, and unfamiliar social composition, in a compressed time period. For broilers already compromised by fast-growth genetics, transport stress can be physiologically overwhelming. The pre-slaughter feed withdrawal period necessary for food safety reasons extends welfare compromise before birds even reach transport. Research on minimum journey duration, maximum stocking density, and climate control requirements has advanced the evidence base, but implementation varies by jurisdiction and season. The welfare improvements achievable through better designed and managed transport represent some of the most cost-effective interventions in commercial poultry welfare.