Considerate catching and transport of chickens
Today chickens are caught with a machine, which is approved by the Animal Protection Council. The machine is an important advance for both animal welfare and the working environment.

The chickens are collected from the chicken producer when they are ca. 40 days old. They are caught in the producer's chicken house and loaded onto a lorry that takes them to the abattoir. With a so-called catching machine, the collection is today very gentle. Earlier, when the catching was manual, the chickens could often get leg or wing injuries.

 

The catching machine improves animal welfare

Until 1997 the chickens were caught manually - they were collected by their legs by a team of abattoir staff. The manual catching could result in leg or wing fractures, and it also resulted in many heavy lifts for the slaughterhouse workers.  

Today the chickens are caught with a catching machine, which is approved by the Animal Protection Council. The machine results in considerable progress with respect to both animal welfare and the working environment: The chickens are handled more gently; there are far fewer leg and wing fractures and the catchers are relieved.

The catching machine is a small tractor with a conveyor belt. The end of the belt is placed on the floor among the chickens. At the end of the belt are rotating 'rubber fingers' that push the chickens onto the conveyor belt. The belt takes the chickens to transport boxes placed on the tractor's platform. The boxes have holes in the sides and bottom to provide ventilation for the chickens. The full boxes are placed on a rack that is placed on the slaughterhouse lorry.


The catching machine with the black rubber fingers gently catches the chickens. 


The catching is done in darkness out of consideration to the chickens. When the light is turned off the chickens become quiet. The catching is gentler the quieter the chickens are.

The chickens are taken care of - also during the transport

The number of chicken abattoirs in has gone down in recent years. The chickens therefore have to be transported over longer distances. Both Danish and EU statutory requirements give clear guidelines for the transport.

Only haulage contractors with special permit from the Veterinary and Food Directorate may transport live animals. During transport from the producer to the abattoir the chickens must be protected against the weather and have sufficient ventilation. When they arrive at the abattoir they must stand under a pent roof to protect them against bad weather. In the summer large fans ensure that the chickens do not get too hot.