Poultry Transport Welfare: Catching and Crating

The catching and crating phase of poultry transport causes the highest rate of injuries, making catching team training and mechanical systems critical welfare interventions.

Key Facts

Manual catching of chickens at slaughter age causes bone fractures in 2-5% of birds caught by trained teams, higher with untrained workers
Mechanical harvesters that sweep birds onto conveyors cause fewer fractures than manual catching in some studies
Crate loading density significantly affects bird welfare - overcrowding increases mortality and distress
Night-time catching reduces stress as birds are less mobile in darkness and show lower stress responses
European Welfare Quality protocols assess catching quality as a key slaughter chain welfare indicator

Welfare Considerations

Catching represents a welfare crisis point where years of husbandry are undone in minutes of rough handling. Workers under time pressure in dark houses, working with birds not adapted to handling, produce high injury rates even when trying to work carefully. Systemic solutions include mechanical harvesting where validated, mandatory catching team training and certification, and management incentives aligned with catching quality rather than just speed. The welfare burden of catching injuries - fractured bones, dislocated hips, and hemorrhage - is borne silently by birds in the hours between catching and slaughter.

What You Can Do

Support welfare certifications that assess and require standards for catching and transport
Advocate for mandatory catching team training and certification in poultry regulations
Support research validating mechanical harvesting welfare compared to manual catching
Choose poultry from short supply chains that minimize transport and catching stress
Ask retailers about welfare monitoring at the catching and transport phase of their supply chains