Full title: Opinion of the FRCAW on the impacts of container internal loading density and height on the risks of overlapping and injury in poultry during transport
Requested by: Animal Welfare Office (BBEA), General Directorate for Food (DGAL), French Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty
Date delivered by the FRCAW: 14/11/2025
Date of publication in English: 13/04/2026
DOI: 10.17180/kncj-rx25
Context
The European regulations on the welfare of farm animals are currently being revised. In December 2023, the European Commission published its Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of animals during transport and related operations, amending Regulation (EC) No 1255/97 and abrogating Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 currently in force. This revision is intended to update regulatory requirements in light of the latest scientific advances on animal welfare during transport, and is based on expert opinions published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) at the request of the European Commission. The draft revision of Regulation 1/2005 suggests higher space allowances (lower densities) than those in Regulation 1/2005, in order to improve the space available to the animals being transported and hence their welfare.
Following the publication of the draft revision, professional farming and transport organisations have raised the possibility of a greater risk of overlapping and injury if lower densities are applied during transport. To support its arguments during European discussions, the Animal Welfare Office of the DGAL asked the FRCAW to answer the following question: ‘Is it the case that [poultry] transported by road at the densities [and heights] set out in the proposed regulatory revision to Regulation No 1/2005 are more at risk of [overlapping] and/or injuring themselves than [poultry] transported by road at the densities laid down in the current regulation (Regulation No 1/2005)?’
The report by the FRCAW summarises the key points of the EFSA opinion on the welfare of poultry during transport, focusing exclusively on information relating to the risks of injury and overlapping associated with loading density during transport (taking account of container floor space and height).
It examines three areas:
- An analysis of the scientific literature on the impacts of an increase in the floor space allowance on the risks of injury and overlapping and of an increase in the height of the containers on overlapping behaviours;
- The effects of a reduction in loading density (increase in space allowance) on stress in poultry;
- Other aggravating factors that can lead to injuries and/or overlapping in poultry during transport.
Main conclusions of the FRCAW
A lack of information covering all species considered in this opinion makes it impossible to provide a scientific answer to the question posed. However, those studies that do exist (mainly on broiler chickens in relation to floor space allowance and on turkeys in relation to container heights) tend to indicate that:
- A lower container loading density during transport (that is, an increase in container floor and height space allowances) reduces the harmful effects in poultry of restricted movement, including stress;
- An increase in floor space allowance would appear to increase the number of injuries but the data do not allow conclusions to be drawn concerning the origins of these injuries in poultry, which could have occurred in transport phases other than the journey itself, such as catching, crating and uncrating;
- A container height that allows birds to sit in a natural posture (with their heads up and without their combs touching the ceiling) and to move around and change posture inside the container, but which prevents them from standing in a natural position, limits the stress caused to the birds without increasing injuries;
- Other transport factors affect the impacts of loading density:
- Temperature and humidity levels: at low temperatures, high stocking densities inside the containers would appear to enable birds to cope better with cold stress. Conversely, at high temperatures, increasing the space allowance helps individual birds to thermoregulate;
- Capture, crating and uncrating methods;
- Total time spent in the containers.
