Safe Poultry Handling
19 December 2024Safe poultry handling not only describes the physical act of handling poultry but also how to approach your birds and how to move through the flock. Poultry should be inspected regularly since as a prey species they conceal injuries, so handling them regularly will allow you to inspect their health when you may not be otherwise alerted of a problem. Knowing how to do this safely will protect your poultry from injury and reduce stress for both them and you during handling.
If poultry are not handled safely they can become stressed and potentially cause injury to themselves or other birds. In the worst-case scenario poultry can flee to a corner of their accommodation and smaller weaker birds are smothered by other birds piling on top of them.
Handling individual birds
The following points are the gold standard for handling individual birds. Here, we focus on chickens (i.e. laying hens and broilers). Chickens should ideally be carried upright and individually. They must not be carried by their wings, head, tail or neck since this can lead to injury. However, if necessary they can be carried by both of their legs.
- Place your hands on either side of the bird’s body, holding the wings into the body so they do not flap.
- Lift the bird and hold it against your body, preventing the wings from flapping.
- Place one hand underneath the bird to support its weight, with your two middle fingers between its legs.
Figure 1 - Three steps to safely pick up poultry. Images - University of Bristol
Top Tips
- Let the poultry know you are coming – use your voice or knock on the door of their accommodation before entering.
- Approach calmly and slowly – if you are calm the birds are more likely to remain calm.
- If carrying multiple chickens at once, birds should be carried by both of their legs with no more than three birds per hand.
- Distances travelled while carrying poultry should be minimised as far as possible. This can be achieved by taking transport containers as close as possible to the birds.
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Poultry transport containers
Poultry transport containers/crates should be used for moving poultry over large distances, these are available online and range in price from around £15 to £75. Specialist companies are available for the transport of large numbers of birds. If you only have a few poultry, you can utilise an improvised crate such as cat or dog transport crate. However, any crate used should allow the birds to be placed in them, transported and removed from the crate without injury. Crates should be inspected for serviceability before use and the operator must ensure that no body part of the birds are protruding from the crate before moving it.
During transport, birds should be protected from bad weather and extreme temperatures. Birds should not be transported if the temperature is over 30ºC unless they are being transported in a temperature-controlled vehicle. They must have adequate ventilation, while being protected from strong direct sunlight, rain or high winds.
Are the birds fit for transport?
There are multiple reasons why birds could be assessed as unfit for transport. These reasons include bit are not limited to:
- Injury
- Leg issue – difficulty or unable to walk.
- Open wounds – cuts, sores, broken skin, prolapsed cloaca.
- Other injury – for example a damaged wing.
- Signs of disease or heat stress
- Swollen head, coughing, gasping, diarrhoea, lethargy, panting or holding their wings away from their body.
Birds assessed as unfit for transport should either be retained and treated or humanely euthanised by a trained person on farm, depending on the circumstances.
James Orr, SAC Consulting
Further Information
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