• 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 » Our training » Training course given to Gemril chicken-catchers

Training course given to Gemril chicken-catchers

May 21, 2016

This past Saturday we held, for the first time, a welfare-workshop for chicken-catchers. We gave this training course to the Netherlands´ largest chicken-catching company, called Gemril in Arnhem. Gemril specializes in the catching and loading of “spent” laying-hens. They are hired by egg farmers to come and empty the barns when the hens are no longer laying enough eggs and the farmer wants to send his birds to slaughter.

Chicken-catchers often have difficult working conditions. The average catcher is supposed to catch between 150 and 250 hens per hour in dark and dusty conditions. The welfare of the birds during this process is often badly compromised. The hens are grabbed 3-5 at a time, by one leg, and left hanging upside down screaming while the catcher tries to grab another bunch with his other hand. The hens are then loaded headfirst and often roughly through the top-openings of transport crates. The pressure on the chicken-catchers to work fast and keep the costs low for the farmer is high, because the price of eggs nowadays is so low.

welfare-workshop
Welfare-workshop
Welfare-workshop

The training course was made up of a 3-hour theoretical part in a classroom and a 2-hour practical part at a Demeter laying-hen farm. During the theoretical part we discussed the anatomy, physiology and behaviour of laying hens, and then took that information and applied it on how one could reduce some of the suffering and stress of the birds during conventional catching. For example, we made the catchers aware of the sensitive hearing of hens to remind them to keep their own voice down, that they should move smoothly not abruptly, to wear dark clothes and use blue light to keep the birds from being on alert, to not shine lights from the fork lift into the barn, to never grab more than 2 birds at a time by their legs and always hold both legs, not just one, and support the breast. To also never leave them hanging upside down while grabbing more birds with the other hand but instead immediately placing the first group into the crate to allow them to stand again. And to check for wings and heads poking out before stacking the crates.

Welfare-workshop
Welfare-workshop
Welfare-workshop

But we also taught the chicken-catchers an alternative manner of catching and loading poultry, called the ” EonA Dutch method”. In the EonA Dutch method, birds are not caught by their legs or suspended upside down but rather caught upright, maximum 1-2 at a time and placed upright gently, 1-2 at a time, into the crate. (The normal way people would want to catch hens if they were not under economic pressure). Scientific studies have shown that birds produce 3 times more corticosterone when grabbed by the their legs and suspended upside down than during gentle, upright catching. We practiced this much more humane method together during the practical part of the training at a Demeter egg farm.

Welfare-workshop
Welfare-workshop
Welfare-workshop
Welfare-workshop
Welfare-workshop
Welfare-workshop

We would like to thank the Dierenbescherming for offering to cover a part of the costs of this course and for showing support for this idea. Our aim, and the Dierenbescherming share this vision, is that the more gentle method of catching and loading birds will be put into the criteria for organically labelled eggs in the near future. Considering the Dierenbescherming runs the 3-star Beter Leven program in the Netherlands for eggs, we feel confident that it will become a reality soon here and thus are happy to get the catchers ready.

We would like to thank Gemril company and the Demeter farmer who took this training seriously and were enthusaistic and good to work with.

To learn more about the difference between the commercial and “alternative EonA Dutch method” please watch our short video https://youtu.be/TTsqqzVJHbw. The EonA Dutch method takes 3 times as long, so in order for this method to be effective the farmer would need to hire 3-times more catchers to do the job in the same amount of time. This will result in slightly higher costs, but several organic, free-range farmers have told us that the difference in cost is not very significant when one can spread it over the 1.5 years of receiving an egg almost every day from each hen.

  • share 
  • tweet 
  • share 
  • save 
  • email 

Filed Under: Our training, Poultry-catchers Tagged With: animal welfare trainings, chicken-catching

Would you like Eyes on Animals to give a training course to the people of your company? Or do you have questions about our training courses?

Please contact us at info@eyesonanimals.com

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

vermistzwkater Zwart/Wit ⚫️🔵⚫️ @vermistzwkater ·
1h

@Nieuwsuur Het werd eens tijd dat het dierenwelzijn op 1 staat ! Dat geldt niet alleen voor Nederland maar voor de hele wereld ! #dierenwelzijn @Eyes_on_Animals @HouseAnimals_nl Meer ruimte en meer vrijheid voor de dieren en het kalf bij haar moeder laten !

Reply on Twitter 1619801789464731649 Retweet on Twitter 1619801789464731649 2 Like on Twitter 1619801789464731649 8 Twitter 1619801789464731649
nieuwsuur Nieuwsuur @nieuwsuur ·
1h

Het kan het einde betekenen van de veehouderij zoals we die kennen in Nederland. Door een nieuwe wet moet dierenwelzijn voorop staan: varkens moeten vrij kunnen wroeten en koeien en kalveren samen kunnen leven. Althans, dat wil de Tweede Kamer.

#Nieuwsuur

Reply on Twitter 1619799890380341248 Retweet on Twitter 1619799890380341248 42 Like on Twitter 1619799890380341248 92 Twitter 1619799890380341248
ruudbodem Ruud Hendriks @ruudbodem ·
28 Jan

Daar zou Gandhi anders over hebben gedacht. "Bijna alles wat je doet is onbelangrijk, maar het is heel belangrijk dat je het doet".
https://www.tijd.be/ondernemen/voeding-drank/voedingswetenschapper-louise-fresco-wie-stopt-met-vlees-eten-omwille-van-het-klimaat-overschat-zijn-impact/10443375.html

Reply on Twitter 1619423522123845633 Retweet on Twitter 1619423522123845633 13 Like on Twitter 1619423522123845633 66 Twitter 1619423522123845633
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