The Art of Poultry Catching: balancing Welfare, Efficiency, and Economics

Korte beschrijving

Broiler chickens and end-of-lay hens are reared intensively to meet commercial demand. Maintaining healthy poultry flocks is essential to obtain high-quality products. Animals should be fit for transport to avoid unnecessary suffering due to changes at the end of their productive cycle. They are removed from their environment by catching, crating, loading, and transporting before slaughter. Prior to transport, chickens are exposed to situational changes, such as feed and water withdrawal, unfamiliar humans, handling, and crating, which can impair animal welfare and cause production losses. In manual catching, chickens are caught by a team. Catchers can experience uncomfortable working conditions due to repeated bending, poor air quality, and reduced visibility. Mechanical catching is an alternative, replacing some human catchers with a machine. Compared to inverted and mechanical catching, upright catching requires more time, is costlier, and more demanding for catchers. More catchers are needed and fewer birds can be caught simultaneously. However, a comparison between inverted, upright, and mechanical catching in terms of animal welfare, catcher well-being, and financial concerns is lacking in literature. Therefore, this thesis aims to optimise the pre-transport phase, including selecting, catching, crating, and loading, based on animal welfare, human well-being, and economics.