Billions of chickens are slaughtered annually using methods that vary widely in their welfare implications. Understanding current practices and alternatives is essential for improving poultry slaughter welfare.
Poultry slaughter welfare affects more individual animals than any other single welfare intervention point, making improvements at slaughter disproportionately impactful. Current water bath stunning systems require birds to experience the stress and pain of live shackling, inversion, and exposure to electrical currents that may be inadequate, before death. Controlled atmosphere killing systems that render birds insensible at flock level before shackling and processing eliminate the worst welfare harms of live shackling. The transition to higher-welfare slaughter systems requires capital investment but represents one of the most cost-effective welfare improvements per animal possible given the scale of poultry production. Consumer pressure, regulatory requirements, and corporate welfare commitments can all drive this transition.