Poultry Transport Welfare: Pre-Slaughter Stress and Mortality

Catching, crating, and transporting poultry to slaughter causes significant welfare harm through fear, injuries, temperature extremes, and exhaustion - with mortality rates revealing the scale of the problem.

Key Facts

Dead on arrival (DOA) rates in US poultry transport average 0.2-0.4%, representing millions of birds annually
Manual catching by crews grabbing birds by legs causes dislocations, bruising, and fractures in 20-40% of birds
Mechanical harvesting systems reduce injury rates but require significant capital investment
Transport duration limits in the EU are 8 hours for poultry; US federal regulations are less restrictive
Thermal stress during transport is a major mortality driver - broilers are particularly vulnerable to heat above 30 degrees C
Catching at night in reduced light reduces fear responses and injury rates compared to daytime catching
Controlled atmosphere killing (CAK) using CO2 or inert gas is considered more welfare-positive than electrical stunning

Welfare Considerations

Poultry transport welfare failures are systemic and scale-dependent - the sheer numbers of birds involved mean that even low percentage mortality and injury rates represent millions of individual animals experiencing acute suffering. Catching is a major welfare event: birds experience fear, pain from rough handling, and the physiological stress of being inverted while carried. Transport exposes already-stressed birds to temperature extremes, vibration, and social disruption. The pre-slaughter period, from catching through stunning, represents a welfare-critical window where improvements in handling protocols, transport conditions, and stunning methods can significantly reduce suffering.

What You Can Do

Choose poultry from farms and processors with documented low DOA rates and mechanical catching systems
Support welfare certification programs that include transport welfare standards and monitoring
Advocate for mandatory poultry transport monitoring including temperature logging and DOA reporting
Reduce poultry consumption from intensive conventional systems while higher welfare options scale
Support development and adoption of more humane mechanical catching systems in the industry