Transport of poultry to slaughter is a significant welfare event involving catching, loading, transport, and livehanging, with each phase carrying welfare risks.
Poultry transport encompasses multiple sequential welfare insults: the violent disruption of catching, the confinement of crating, the physiological stress of transport, and the acute distress of livehanging and stunning. Each phase represents a welfare challenge that better practices and technology can address but not eliminate. Mechanical harvesting reduces some catching injuries while introducing others. Controlled atmosphere stunning replaces the distress of inverted livehanging with gas induction that can be done in the transport crate. The cumulative welfare burden of conventional poultry pre-slaughter handling across billions of birds annually is enormous. Technology and regulatory improvements are available; implementing them requires market and legislative pressure.