Spent laying hens are often caught and loaded in a brutal manner. This is not necessarily because chicken-catchers are mean people, but rather because the birds are worth very little at the end of their "productive life" and thus the slaughter industry and supermarkets put enormous pressure to keep costs low. Chicken-catchers are forced to catch and load birds at extreme … [Read more...] about Practicing catching and loading hens in a gentle and upright manner
chicken transport
Meeting with poultry organization Nepluvi to improve welfare during loading
Today we met with Nepluvi, the Dutch organization representing the interests of the poultry industry. We showed them footage taken during our numerous inspections of how rough spent- hens are handled during catching and loading. We also discussed an educative brochure we made on how the handling of birds can be improved on. Nepluvi is planning, together with chicken … [Read more...] about Meeting with poultry organization Nepluvi to improve welfare during loading
Transport inspection of Dutch spent hens to Poland
Tonight while conducting random inspections, we spotted 2 poultry trucks parked beside an egg farm in Dreumel, the Netherlands. We want to check on the welfare of the birds during catching and loading and ask the farmer for permission to enter, which he accepts. The spent-hens are caught manually by a chicken-catching crew. 3-4 hens at a time are grabbed by their legs and … [Read more...] about Transport inspection of Dutch spent hens to Poland
New poultry-transport crate design
At the request of EonA and several Dutch poultry transport companies, a manufacturer of plastic products has made a new poultry transport crate that better satisfies the European requirements. The new crate has a door on the side so that there is now access to the birds in at least the outer columns on the truck. During loading and transport poultry can unfortunately … [Read more...] about New poultry-transport crate design
Inspection Dutch spent-hens loaded onto truck destined for slaughter in Poland
A team from EonA and AWF checked on the loading of spent-hens at a farm in south Netherlands. The birds were destined for a slaughterhouse in Poland. The hens had been housed in so-called “enriched” cages their whole life and were grabbed by their legs and suspended upside down by chicken-catchers. Once the chicken-catchers had three suspended birds in each hand they would … [Read more...] about Inspection Dutch spent-hens loaded onto truck destined for slaughter in Poland