• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • EYES ON ANIMALS – Watching out for their Welfare
  • English
  • Nederlands
  • Deutsch

Eyes on Animals

Watching out for their Welfare

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
DONATE
  • About us
    • What we do
    • Our team
    • Key Figures
    • Contact
  • News
    • Latest news
    • Good news
    • Bad news
    • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Inspections
    • Farms
    • Markets
    • Transports
    • Slaughterhouses
    • Special projects
    • Other
  • Training
    • Police
    • Truck drivers
    • Poultry-catchers
    • Slaughter personnel
    • Training Material
    • Request a training
  • Industry Tips
    • Animal transport
      • Cattle
      • Pigs
      • Poultry
    • Slaughterhouses
      • Cattle
      • Pigs
      • Poultry
      • Ritual slaughter
    • Educational videos
  • Publications
    • In the media
      • Print
      • Television
      • Radio
      • Videos
    • Newsletters
    • Special reports
    • Training Material
    • Annual reviews
  • Future Vision
  • Help us
Home » News » EonA puts more humane way of catching birds into practice

EonA puts more humane way of catching birds into practice

June 15, 2021

EonA introduced the upright method already back in 2016. We saw serious injuries caused such as fractured or crushed wings and legs, plus extremely loud screaming of the birds during catching. We also knew that poultry do not have a diaphragm thus when held upside down all their weight is on their lungs causing breathing problems. We also found several scientific articles showing that hens produce much higher levels of stress hormones when grabbed by a leg and held upside down compared to the upright method.

We started offering a theory and practical training course to commercial chicken catching companies in the Netherlands, of which six have already participated. Gemril was the first catching company that wanted to be trained, soon other catching companies became interested, like Den Ouden, Van den Broek, Jekal, Smeding and Pots. Regularly we also give refresher-courses, as employees within catching companies come and go so there are always new catchers in the team. Our courses are interactive, stimulating and take into account the expertise and opinions of the catchers themselves. They are fun, and educational. With commercial catchers trained in the upright method, we began encouraging egg companies, already with welfare standards, to make the switch. There was a snowball effect. Rondeel was the first, then Kipster, Demeter and egg packaging-centre De Grote Kamp, which supplies natural food stores like Ekoplaza and Odin. In 2022 also Eike, a label from Smits bron van energie, will catch their birds upright for the first time. Eike eggs are sold at Sligro. More companies and individual farmers are known to be interested.

Upright catching takes just 1.7 times longer and costs less than 0,0004 per egg (calculation for Kipster). Hiring more catchers means you can be done in the same time as before. We have shown it is feasible, also for intensive farms with 20.000-30.000 hens. It is much more pleasant for the hens, but also for the catchers as they have less chickens to carry per hand and there is less noise causes by frightened chickens. There is less noise, less stress, less rush, less risk of injuries and the most important, the catchers feel they are now working with sentient animals. This has brought all sorts of other benefits- namely more humane handling, a more professional and empathic attitude, and pride. Catching hens is no longer seen as a dirty job that no one talks about, but a professional job requiring expertise, responsibility and skill and that one can be proud of. 

Eyes on Animals showed that there is another way, and together with chicken catchers and open-minded progressive egg companies we are making serious improvements together. We offer our training to anyone interested and also help catch chickens while present during supervising. We encourage all egg companies to take advantage of this great collaboration. Send Eyes on Animals an email (info@eyesoanimals.com) and we can set up a training date soon or help brainstorm how your company can get involved.

  • share 
  • tweet 
  • share 
  • save 
  • email 

Filed Under: Good news, News Tagged With: animal welfare improvements, chicken-catching, chickens

Primary Sidebar

Search

Featured

Upright chicken catching project on German and French TV

ZDF and Arte recently televised EonA’s project to reduce stress, pain and injuries by catching hens … [Read More...] about Upright chicken catching project on German and French TV

Featured

Interview with Lesley Moffat for the podcast-show “See differently’

For the podcast-show “See differently” Christel van Raaij has a personal interview with Lesley … [Read More...] about Interview with Lesley Moffat for the podcast-show “See differently’

Our most recent newsletter

Dear friends,

I want to tell you about Akuba. A young sow we met last week in Ghana. We were there in the first two weeks of December, inspecting and improving slaughterhouses together with the local NGO WACPAW. Our goal: curb the intense suffering of animals that is going on there.

 

Read more…

Subscribe to our newsletter

Eyes on Animals op Twitter

louisbolk Louis Bolk Instituut @louisbolk ·
4h

Onze onderzoeksresultaten proberen zo veel mogelijk te delen met de praktijk. Dit doen we o.a. door artikelen te publiceren in het vakblad voor de biologische sector; Ekoland (⇢ https://www.ekoland.nl). Over welke onderwerpen wil jij graag wat lezen? Suggesties zijn welkom!👇

Reply on Twitter 1622868129012453376 Retweet on Twitter 1622868129012453376 3 Like on Twitter 1622868129012453376 2 Twitter 1622868129012453376
eyes_on_animals Eyes on Animals @eyes_on_animals ·
13h

Er komt beweging in! - Erasmus Universiteit roept klimaat-noodtoestand uit: relaties met fossiele industrie onder de loep | Rotterdam | http://AD.nl https://www.ad.nl/rotterdam/erasmus-universiteit-roept-klimaat-noodtoestand-uit-relaties-met-fossiele-industrie-onder-de-loep~a9482a69/

Reply on Twitter 1622718682098008081 Retweet on Twitter 1622718682098008081 2 Like on Twitter 1622718682098008081 6 Twitter 1622718682098008081
dierencoalitie Dierencoalitie @dierencoalitie ·
19h

De Raad van State stuurt de minister terug naar de tekentafel. De doelstelling van het amendement Vestering wordt door de minister van @minlnv afgezwakt en dat mag niet! https://twitter.com/leonievestering/status/1622635533389246465

Reply on Twitter 1622640129029308423 Retweet on Twitter 1622640129029308423 5 Like on Twitter 1622640129029308423 9 Twitter 1622640129029308423
Load More...

ANBI

Footer

Donate with Paypal

Paypal Eyes on Animals
One-time donation:
Monthly donation:

Reading Material

  • In the Media
  • Newsletters
  • Special EonA reports
  • Legislative texts
  • ANBI

Our Amsterdam Office

Amsterdam House Hotel
Eyes on Animals main office is in downtown Amsterdam, at the Amsterdam House Hotel. The generous and warm-hearted hotel owner donated to Eyes on Animals, free of charge, a beautiful room where our inspectors can work, hold meetings and store their material.

Copyright © 2023 · Eyes on Animals | Website by Webkompaan