Today, Eyes on Animals was in Germany to conduct a training session and oversee the upright catching and loading of 3,000 laying hens. This initiative was organized at the invitation of the German Tierschutzlabel. For the poultry farmer, it was the first time that (a portion of) his hens were caught upright. This method was also new to many of the catchers.
The catchers, predominantly of Polish origin, worked diligently. Each hen was carefully picked up upright and placed one by one into the crates, with hands positioned around the wings. The crates were loaded through side doors, which eliminated the need for stacking and unstacking, thereby reducing the chaos in the barn.
The stress level among the hens was slightly higher than average because they were caught relatively early (19:00). The hens are not used to perching so early and many were still awake, making them more alert and harder to catch. Eyes on Animals advises catching hens after sunset when they have already perched and are asleep. We communicated this feedback to the poultry farmer and the Tierschutzlabel.
The poultry farmer noted that the process went faster and better than he had expected. We believe that the upright catching method is not significantly slower (approximately 1.7 times longer) because the hens experience less stress – they run around less in the barn and stay inside the crates better.
We would like to sincerely thank the Tierschutzlabel for their support in introducing the upright catching and loading method in Germany and for organizing this event. We also want to thank the poultry farmer and the catchers for their enthusiasm, dedication, and willingness to try the upright catching method.
