Poultry Pre-Catch Welfare: Reducing Stress Before Broiler Collection

The process of catching broiler chickens for transport to slaughter is one of the most stressful welfare events in their short lives. Pre-catch management and catching technique significantly affect welfare outcomes.

Key Facts

Manual catching - grabbing chickens by the legs - causes acute stress, wing injuries, and disorientation
Mechanical harvesting using automated catching machines reduces some physical injuries compared to manual catching
Pre-catch feed withdrawal (typically 8-12 hours) is standard practice to reduce gut content and contamination risk during slaughter
Feed withdrawal causes hunger and motivational frustration in birds that otherwise have continuous feed access
Catching at night when birds are calmer and less active reduces panic responses compared to daytime catching
Studies show fracture and injury rates during catching range widely, from 2-20% depending on technique and operator
The Brambell Committee recognized catching as a major acute welfare event requiring attention in early UK welfare policy

Welfare Considerations

Catching is a welfare event that affects every broiler chicken produced worldwide, yet it receives relatively little public attention compared to housing conditions or slaughter. The scale of the welfare impact is enormous: billions of chickens are caught annually, and each catching event involves acute fear, physical handling, and potential injury. Progress on catching welfare comes from three directions: better catching technique training for manual catchers, development and uptake of mechanical harvesting systems, and industry standards that make injury monitoring mandatory. The most overlooked issue is feed withdrawal: while practically necessary for processing, the duration of feed deprivation is a welfare variable that can be minimized with careful planning.

What You Can Do

Support poultry welfare standards that include catching technique requirements and injury monitoring
Ask poultry producers whether they use mechanical or manual catching and what injury rates they monitor
Advocate for shortened feed withdrawal periods and evidence-based standards that minimize hunger while meeting processing requirements
Support training programs for poultry catchers that emphasize welfare-conscious technique
Choose poultry products from producers that audit and publicly report pre-slaughter welfare outcomes