Document type: scientific review published in Poultry
Authors: , M.A., Ruhnke, I.
Abstract in French (translation): Manual capture and transport of poultry, particularly chickens, and European practices
The manual handling of poultry is an essential part of raising and caring for birds. Different methods of manual capture have varying impacts on the welfare and health of the birds, on the well-being and job satisfaction of the people handling them, as well as on the economic and logistical requirements of all parties involved. The traditional approach of using the “five freedoms” to assess animal welfare been supplemented by animal-based measures (ABM) as well as the evaluation of five domains of welfare, which take into account an animal’s subjective response to its environment. The assessment of individual animal welfare parameters out of context may prove to be non-specific, partially informative, or even misleading when considered in isolation. The objective measurement of appropriate parameters for assessing the various stages of poultry capture and transport is complex and must be carried out in a differentiated manner. This review summarizes current knowledge on the manual capture of poultry, with a particular focus on the handling of chickens in upright and inverted positions, as well as current considerations in Europe. The implementation of a centralized, consistent, transparent, and traceable collection of data on animal health and welfare at the various critical control points in poultry transport would enable a systematic assessment of welfare in the future, taking multiple factors into account.
Preview: The manual handling of poultry is an essential part of raising and caring for birds. The different manual catching methods have various impacts on the bird’s welfare and health, the well-being and work satisfaction of the people who are handling the birds, and the economic and logistical requirements of everyone involved. The traditional approach of using the Five Freedoms for investigating animal well-being has been amended with animal-based measures (ABMs) as well as the evaluation of five welfare domains, which consider the subjective response of an animal towards its environment. The assessment of single individual animal welfare parameters without context can be non-specific, only partially informative, or even misleading when considered in isolation. The objective measurement of suitable parameters for the evaluation of the various steps of poultry catching and transport is complex and should be carried out in a differentiated manner. This review summarizes the current knowledge about the manual catching of poultry, with special focus on the upright and inverted handling of chicken and current considerations in Europe. The implementation of consistent, transparent, and traceable central data collection on animal health and welfare at various critical control points of bird transportation would allow systematic evaluation of the multifactorial welfare assessment in the future.
