Catching and transport to slaughter is one of the highest welfare risk periods for broiler chickens, causing fear, injury, and mortality that can be reduced through improved practices.
Catching and transport represent concentrated welfare risks for broiler chickens because they involve multiple stressors applied simultaneously - novel handling, inversion, confinement, vehicle vibration, noise, temperature variation, and social disruption. Manual catching by untrained handlers causes fractures, joint dislocations, and hemorrhage that cause pain and distress. Transport vehicle conditions including temperature, stocking density, and journey duration all affect welfare outcomes. Pre-slaughter lairage conditions affect the welfare of birds in the final hours of their lives. While this period is brief, the welfare impact is significant - billions of chickens globally experience these stressors annually. Improved handling methods, training, and transport standards demonstrably reduce injury rates and mortality.