Today Eyes on Animals visited a poultry farmer in Groningen to talk about catching methods for chickens. He wanted to know more about the upright catching method and what exactly this would mean to him in practice. Because of the prevailing bird flu, we were not able to enter the poultry shed, however we were able to look in through the windows. The sheds and chickens looked good, there was sufficient daylight and two of the three sheds had a covered area. The hens were enjoying dust baths and foraging. We offered to catch hens in one of his sheds using the upright method, assisted by a team from EonA. The farmers catching crew, Smeding, have already attended our animal welfare training course. The poultry farmer is cautiously positive and has informed us he will consider our proposal. We hope he will consider undertaking this experiment, so he can experience it for himself.
