The catching of poultry for transport to slaughter is a significant source of acute stress and injury. Improving catching methods and training standards reduces welfare harm at this critical point.
Catching represents one of the most acute welfare events in the life of commercially farmed poultry. Birds who have lived their entire lives in flocks suddenly experience direct human handling, physical restraint, inversion (hanging upside down by the legs), and placement in crates — all within a stressful, rapidly moving operation. Fractures sustained during catching cause acute pain that the bird carries into transport and, in some cases, until death at slaughter. Reducing catching welfare harm requires a combination of: catching team training, appropriate bird density in crates, and the use of dimmed lighting to reduce bird panic response during the process.