EonA team was invited by an egg farmer to his laying-hen farm tonight in Drenthe to check how his 9000 spent-hens will be caught and loaded for transport to slaughter. He was open to our opinion and to exchange ideas on how to improve welfare and to test out the "EonA Dutch method" of catching the birds together with the catching crew. Normally all spent laying-hens are … [Read more...] about Inspection of chicken-catching at a farm in the Netherlands
chicken transport
Practical- training course to the Poznan highway police (WITD) and official veterinarians, Poland
Following the theory-training we gave the day before, a group of WITD inspectors and official veterinarians gather by the highway for the practical part of our training course. We get a very interesting picture of animal transport in this area because we stop many livestock trucks passing through. A short-distance local cattle transport, an empty truck authorised for the … [Read more...] about Practical- training course to the Poznan highway police (WITD) and official veterinarians, Poland
Transport company Blom en Zonen expose poultry to freezing cold winds
On the 14th of January, a concerned-person driving along the A2 highway in the Netherlands filmed a poultry truck from the company Blom en Zonen on its way to a slaughterhouse. Click HERE to watch the footage. It was 3 degrees Celcius out and with the vehicle moving, conditions were made even colder for the poultry on board, being exposed to freezing winds. According to … [Read more...] about Transport company Blom en Zonen expose poultry to freezing cold winds
Practicing catching and loading hens in a gentle and upright manner
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
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
Transport of chickens
Eyes on Animals is concentrating a lot of it´s efforts on chicken transport- in particular the way “spent” hens are transported. We are working towards these animals being better transported so that their suffering be limited. We regularly inspect chicken trucks and write reports about them to inform the authorities, the chicken industry and the media of our concerns with … [Read more...] about Transport of chickens
