Catching and transport of poultry to slaughter is a high-welfare-risk period, causing injuries, stress, and mortality. Pre-slaughter electrical water bath or controlled atmosphere stunning quality determines whether birds are rendered unconscious before slaughter.
Birds caught by a single leg and inverted experience pain from joint stress and fear from inversion. Wing fractures sustained during catching cause acute pain that persists until slaughter. Improper water bath stunning parameters cause birds to enter the bath conscious, experiencing an electric shock without unconsciousness. The welfare quality of the final hours of a poultry bird life depends critically on catcher training, equipment maintenance, and stunning parameter monitoring.