Chicken welfare at catching
The ways in which chickens are caught can cause injuries and millions of chickens arrive dead at the slaughterhouse each year (dead-on-arrival [DOA]: 0.1% to 0.6%).
We conducted a systematic review to better understand the welfare impacts of various catching methods for laying hens and broiler chickens. Papers were screened against clear inclusion and exclusion criteria. Twenty-two papers met the criteria and were included, grouped around three themes. Each paper was assessed for the risk of possible bias in six domains (no randomization, no blinding of assessors or data analysts, not reporting missing data, selective reporting, or other types of bias) and three levels (low risk; some concerns; high risk), as well as an overall bias judgement.
