How to Properly Receive Birds at a Poultry Processing Plant

Every step in poultry processing has a direct impact on the safety, quality, and value of the final product – but few steps are as consequential as the very first one: receiving the birds. Long before a single carcass reaches the processing line, a carefully orchestrated sequence of pre-slaughter procedures must take place. From feed withdrawal on the farm to weighing and unloading at the plant, how birds are handled during reception determines everything from carcass contamination risk to bruise rates, live weight shrink, and overall profitability. Getting it right is not optional – it is the foundation of good processing practice.

Why bird reception matters so much 🔗

The reception of birds is not simply a logistics task. It sits at the intersection of animal welfare, food safety, and economics. According to Aviagen’s veterinary guidance, pre-processing bird management – covering everything from feed withdrawal through to holding at the plant – can significantly influence bird welfare, carcass yield and grade, and overall flock profitability. Problems introduced at this stage cannot be corrected later. Research from the University of Georgia confirms that 90% of bruising on carcasses occurs within the 12 to 24 hours before processing, with the breast (42%), wings (33%), and legs (25%) being the most commonly affected areas. These are injuries that directly reduce carcass grade, increase trimming waste, and cut into revenue.

Feed withdrawal: the first critical step 🔗

Proper bird reception actually begins on the farm, not at the plant gate. Feed withdrawal – the controlled removal of feed before slaughter – is essential to empty the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and reduce the risk of fecal contamination during evisceration. If the intestines are full when the carcass is opened on the processing line, the contents can leak onto the meat, creating a food safety problem that requires expensive trimming, vacuuming, or even condemnation of the carcass.

Getting the timing right 🔗

Industry guidance consistently recommends feed withdrawal of 8 to 12 hours before the expected time of slaughter – and this window encompasses catching, loading, transport, and any time spent in lairage at the plant. Shorter periods risk leaving the GIT insufficiently cleared, while extended periods beyond 12 to 14 hours create a different set of problems. When birds go without feed for more than 14 hours, the intestinal lining begins to deteriorate, making intestines fragile and prone to rupture during evisceration – ironically increasing the very contamination risk that withdrawal is meant to prevent. Bile also accumulates in an enlarged gall bladder, and if it leaks, it stains and contaminates the carcass and liver.

Weight loss is another consequence of getting the timing wrong. A 1.8 kg broiler loses approximately 5 grams of body weight per additional hour of feed withdrawal after the GIT has been cleared. This “live shrink” has direct economic consequences for both the farm and the processing plant, since birds are sold and processed by weight.

Water must stay available 🔗

A critical detail that is sometimes overlooked: while feed is withdrawn, water must remain freely available. Water should be available continuously until just before catching begins. Water helps moisten and move feed through the crop and digestive tract. It also keeps birds hydrated and prevents the thermal stress that dehydrated birds are more susceptible to during transport. After feed is withdrawn, water should remain accessible for 3 to 6 hours, depending on ambient temperature – with cooler weather requiring particular attention since birds drink less when it is cold.

If feed withdrawal is conducted at night, lights in the house should be kept on for at least four hours after removing feed to encourage birds to remain active and keep the digestive process moving. In darkness, the rate of GIT clearing slows considerably.

Catching birds: technique and timing 🔗

Once the withdrawal period is complete, birds must be caught and loaded into transport crates. This is consistently identified as the highest-risk point for physical injury in the pre-slaughter chain.

The right way to catch 🔗

Catching crews should hold birds by both shanks – the lower leg between the foot and hock – or support them with both hands against the body. Carrying birds by the neck, wings, or a single leg is unacceptable and causes fractures, dislocations, and bruising. In large-scale operations, no more than three birds should be carried in one hand at a time. Catchers must be properly trained: the prevalence of breast and wing bruising varies significantly depending on which catching crew is used, which highlights the direct impact of individual skill and care on product quality.

In some large-scale and European operations, mechanical catching systems are increasingly used. These machines, which use conveyor belts or rotating rubber fingers to move birds into crates, keep birds upright rather than inverted, reducing stress and injury compared to some manual methods. However, approximately 95% of broilers worldwide are still caught manually, making well-trained catching crews the dominant factor in minimizing injury.

Why catching at night makes a difference 🔗

Birds are best caught at night or in the early morning hours, when low light levels naturally reduce activity and stress. In dim or blue-tinted light, birds are calmer, less likely to flap their wings, and easier for catchers to handle efficiently. The catching process should always occur in dim light to minimize bird activity and distress. Nighttime catching also avoids the heat stress associated with daytime summer temperatures, which can directly increase dead-on-arrival (DOA) rates and compromise meat quality.

Loading into crates 🔗

Birds must be gently placed into transport modules or crates, loaded from the top down, and crates must be checked to ensure birds are upright. Stocking density is critical: overfilling causes overheating and increased mortality, while underfilling leads to chilling and instability during transport. Density must be adjusted based on bird weight, ambient temperature, and applicable regulations.

Transport to the processing plant 🔗

The journey from farm to plant exposes birds to a range of stressors – vibration, motion, noise, temperature fluctuation, and social disruption. Transportation vehicles must have tarps, curtains, or ventilation doors to protect birds from extreme weather conditions. The internal temperature and humidity inside a loaded truck compartment can differ substantially from external conditions, and active ventilation, heating, or cooling may be needed depending on the season.

Transport time should be kept as short as possible. After two hours of travel, mortality can begin to occur. Dead-on-arrival rates are higher for journeys lasting more than four hours, and broilers transported at higher ambient temperatures lose significantly more body weight than those transported in cooler conditions. The summer and winter months carry the highest DOA rates, underscoring the need for climate-appropriate transport management year-round.

Arrival at the plant: weighing 🔗

After birds arrive at the processing plant, they are typically weighed and placed in lairage. Weighing serves several important functions. It provides the live weight data needed to calculate yield and shrink losses relative to farm records. Unexpected weight differences can signal problems – excessive weight loss may point to dehydration or transport stress, while discrepancies in the other direction may indicate equipment calibration issues. This data also feeds into processing scheduling, helping plant managers plan daily throughput and staffing.

Unloading: where careful handling is non-negotiable 🔗

Unloading is the point at which all prior careful handling can be undone in seconds. Rough unloading – dropping crates, squeezing birds, or allowing them to collide with hard surfaces – causes the bruising and broken wings that directly reduce carcass value. Care must be taken when removing birds from crates to prevent bruises and broken bones. In large plants, broilers are typically unloaded onto conveyor belts; in smaller operations, this is done by hand. In both cases, the same principle applies: smooth, controlled, and consistent handling.

Wing injuries deserve particular attention. Broken wings create both animal welfare concerns and processing challenges, and reduce the commercial value of wing meat – a significant revenue line for many processors. Care should be taken during unloading to avoid carcass damage, especially to the wings.

Lairage: rest before slaughter 🔗

Once unloaded, birds are held in a designated area called the lairage – a waiting space that serves both logistical and welfare purposes. Allowing broilers to rest for up to two hours upon arrival, before processing begins, lets their heart and breathing rates return to normal. This recovery period reduces stress-related meat quality issues such as pale, soft, and exudative (PSE) meat, which results from glycogen depletion in muscles stressed before slaughter.

Lairage time should ideally be kept to less than 2 to 3 hours to prevent excessive weight loss (shrinkage), and the area must provide protection from sun, wind, and rain. Temperatures above 28°C/82°F in the lairage area are associated with higher dead-on-arrival rates compared to temperatures below 24°C/75°F, making ventilation and cooling systems essential components of any well-designed holding facility. Blue lighting in the lairage area is less stressful for broilers than white light, as it mimics nighttime conditions and encourages birds to remain calm and settled.

The condition and health status of birds in lairage must be monitored regularly. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) recommends that the condition of animals in lairage be inspected at least twice daily, with sick, weak, or injured birds separated immediately for veterinary assessment or humane killing.

The economic case for doing it properly 🔗

Every element of the reception process – feed withdrawal timing, catching technique, nighttime transport, careful unloading, and controlled lairage – has a measurable economic impact. Poor practices during catching alone are directly linked to carcass downgrading due to bruising, scratches, and wing damage. Birds that arrive stressed or injured require more processing intervention, produce lower-grade meat, and generate more condemnations. Conversely, birds that are handled well from farm to lairage are easier to process, yield higher-quality carcasses, and maximize the return on the investment made throughout the entire grow-out period.

What do you think? Given that most bruising and injury occurs in the 12 to 24 hours before slaughter, where do you think the industry’s biggest opportunity lies – in improved catching techniques, better transport design, or lairage management? And how should processing plants balance the pressure to maximize throughput speed with the need to protect bird welfare and meat quality at the reception stage?

References

1. https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/preprocessing-handling-in-broilers
2. https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/reference-guide-for-solving-poultry-processing-problems
3. https://www.wattagnet.com/broilers-turkeys/processing-slaughter/article/15499733/the-impact-of-feed-withdrawal-on-quality-safety-yield-of-processed-chickens
4. https://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/pubs/a-picture-guide-of-chicken-feed-withdrawal-bba01s28.pdf
5. https://www.wattagnet.com/home/article/15531149/importance-of-feed-withdrawal-and-the-loading-process-to-the-poultry-industry-wattagnet
6. https://attra.ncat.org/publication/small-scale-poultry-processing/
7. https://modernpoultry.media/pre-slaughter-welfare-of-broilers/
8. https://marel.com/en/news/a-smooth-transport-from-grower-to-processor/
9. https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/APSC/apsc-209/apsc-209.html
10. https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/pre-processing-management-for-broiler-chickens
11. https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/from-truck-to-chill-firstprocessing-management-of-broilers
12. https://www.woah.org/fileadmin/Home/eng/Health_standards/tahc/2018/en_chapitre_aw_slaughter.htm