The complete poultry transport welfare system spans catching, loading, vehicle journey, lairage, and unloading - with each stage presenting distinct welfare challenges for billions of birds annually.
Poultry transport welfare is a system-level welfare problem where failures at multiple stages compound each other. Birds caught by inexperienced teams are more likely to arrive with injuries; inadequately ventilated vehicles cause heat stress that compounds the catching stress; lairage without water or feed extends the deprivation period before slaughter. The scale of the problem - billions of birds annually - makes even small percentage improvements in welfare outcomes significant in aggregate terms. System-level welfare improvement requires attention to each stage with appropriate welfare indicators including dead on arrival rates, wing fracture rates, and effective pre-slaughter stunning rates.