Poultry Catching and Transport Welfare

The welfare impact of commercial poultry catching operations and transport to slaughter, and evidence-based improvements to reduce suffering.

Key Facts

Catching broiler chickens for transport involves manual inversion — holding birds upside down by their legs
Inversion causes wing flapping, stress vocalizations, and cardiovascular changes consistent with fear and pain
Catching injuries including dislocated hips and broken bones affect an estimated 0.25-0.5% of birds per catch
Mechanical harvesting systems cause fewer injuries than hand-catching in well-designed operations
Transport to slaughter involves loading density, temperature, noise, and motion stressors simultaneously
Heat stress during summer transport causes significant mortality in commercial poultry flocks
Lairage holding periods before slaughter are often extended overnight, during which birds fast and remain stressed

Welfare Considerations

Poultry catching and transport represent welfare harms that affect hundreds of billions of birds annually worldwide. The combination of inversion handling, crowded transport crates, temperature extremes, prolonged fasting, and unfamiliar sensory environments creates a profoundly negative experience for animals who have already spent their brief lives in intensive housing. The welfare science is clear about what helps: mechanical harvesting when available, temperature-controlled transport, maximum journey time limits, and humane catch training for all personnel. Economic arguments against these investments weaken when the costs of mortality, downgraded carcasses, and reputational damage from welfare failures are included.

What You Can Do

Support poultry welfare certification schemes that include catching and transport standards
Ask retailers and fast food chains about their supply chain transport and catching standards
Advocate for mandatory maximum journey times for poultry transport in your country
Support research into mechanical harvesting systems that reduce catching injuries
Write to food companies asking them to require third-party welfare auditing of catching operations