Poultry Transport Welfare: Heat, Crowding, and Mortality

The transport of live poultry to slaughter is a high-mortality, high-welfare-risk phase of production that causes significant suffering through heat stress, injury, and prolonged deprivation.

Key Facts

Transport mortality in poultry commonly reaches 0.1-0.5%, translating to millions of dead birds annually
Poultry may be transported for up to 8 hours in the EU and much longer in other jurisdictions without water
Loading and unloading involves handling that causes fear, wing injuries, and leg fractures
Heat stress during summer transport is a major cause of transport mortality in chickens
Live shackling at slaughter plants causes inversion-related pain and distress before stunning

Welfare Considerations

Transport is one of the most welfare-compromising phases of poultry production, compressing multiple stressors — fear, thermal stress, physical injury, and prolonged deprivation — into a brief window before slaughter. Improvements require investment in better vehicle design with ventilation, journey time limits, mandatory water access, and training in handling methods that reduce injury and fear. Controlled atmosphere processing — where birds are rendered insensible in the house before loading — eliminates many transport and live-shackling welfare concerns and is increasingly adopted by welfare-committed producers.

What You Can Do

Choose poultry from producers using controlled atmosphere processing or certified higher-welfare transport
Support campaigns for journey time limits and mandatory water access during poultry transport
Advocate for abolition of live shackling and inversion before slaughter in poultry processing
Contact major food companies about their supply chain poultry transport welfare commitments