Farmed Chicken Catching and Loading Welfare

The catching and loading of broilers for transport to slaughter is one of the highest-risk welfare events in the production cycle. Manual and mechanical catching causes injuries, and the process causes acute fear and distress in all birds.

Key Facts

Broiler catching involves teams removing birds from darkened houses, typically at night to reduce activity
Manual catching involves workers grasping birds by legs and carrying multiple birds per hand, causing wing injuries
Mechanical harvesting machines use rotating rubber fingers to sweep birds onto conveyor systems
Injury rates during catching include broken wings, dislocated joints, and haemorrhage
Fear response during catching includes extreme struggling, vocalisation, and physiological stress markers
Catching duration in large houses can extend over many hours, with later-caught birds experiencing more stress
Training of catching teams in welfare-positive handling techniques reduces injury rates
Pre-catching food withdrawal to reduce gut fill for processing adds several hours to the stressful period

Welfare Considerations

Catching is a moment of acute terror and physical risk for birds that have never been handled. The combination of sudden disturbance in darkness, unfamiliar human contact, and rough handling causes genuine suffering. Injury rates, even in well-managed catching operations, indicate that current methods cause harm to a proportion of every flock. Mechanical harvesting systems show mixed welfare outcomes compared to skilled manual catching. Investment in catching team training and monitoring, alongside development of less stressful harvesting technologies, is urgently needed.

What You Can Do

Support welfare standards requiring catching team training and monitoring of injury rates
Choose chicken from producers with demonstrated welfare protocols for catching and loading
Advocate for CCTV monitoring of catching operations as part of welfare assurance schemes
Reduce chicken consumption or choose welfare-certified products to reward better practices