Broiler Catching and Live Handling Welfare

The catching and loading of broiler chickens for transport to slaughter is one of the most stressful events in their short lives. Mechanization and training can reduce injuries and fear, but practices remain highly variable globally.

Key Facts

In the UK and EU, most broilers are now caught by mechanical harvesters rather than manual catching
Manual catching involves workers grabbing chickens by one or both legs and carrying multiple birds at once
Catching causes acute fear responses, wing flapping injuries, bone fractures, and dislocations
Studies show up to 10% of manually caught broilers suffer bruising, up to 2% suffer dislocated hips
Mechanical harvesters reduce injury rates but are not feasible in all shed configurations
Pre-catching withdrawal of feed (thinning out) causes additional hunger stress
Night-time catching under blue light reduces panic responses - this practice is increasingly standard

Welfare Considerations

Broiler catching welfare is a critical but often overlooked stage of the production cycle. The combination of acute fear, physical handling, and injury risk represents significant suffering concentrated in a brief period. Welfare improvements require both infrastructure investment (mechanical harvesting adoption) and training for manual catchers in handling technique. Certification schemes increasingly include catching welfare requirements such as maximum carrying numbers per hand, night-time catching, and injury rate monitoring. Consumer-facing labels rarely communicate catching welfare standards, making this a transparency gap in the supply chain.

What You Can Do

Choose chicken products from certified welfare schemes that include handling standards
Advocate for mandatory catching welfare standards in broiler certification
Support retailers that audit their entire supply chain including catching and transport stages
Reduce chicken consumption as the most direct way to reduce demand for intensively produced chicken
Contact food companies to ask about their broiler catching welfare requirements
Support research into mechanical harvesting technology accessible to smaller farms