The transport of broiler chickens from farm to slaughterhouse is one of the most significant acute welfare events in animal agriculture. Improving transport conditions could reduce suffering for billions of birds annually.
Chicken transport welfare spans the period from live catch on farm to shackling at the slaughter facility — typically 6-24 hours during which birds are exposed to capture, social disruption, thermal stress, vibration, and feed and water withdrawal. The live catch process, often performed by crews catching and carrying birds by their legs in low-light barn conditions, causes wing injuries, bone fractures, and fear responses in a significant proportion of birds. Transport containers designed without adequate ventilation or thermal management expose birds to temperature extremes. Water deprivation in hot conditions causes suffering measurable through physiological indicators. Each of these problems has technical solutions — mechanical catching, improved container design, maximum withdrawal time limits — that have not been universally implemented because they carry costs that the industry has not been required to internalize.