Killing individual poultry on-farm—a survey among veterinarians and farmers

Abstract

To date, information about reasons to select and kill poultry on-farm and which method veterinarians and poultry producers preferably use is scarce. Little is also known about their knowledge of the legislation regarding on-farm killing methods and of methods alternative to the one(s) they use, as well as their perception of those alternatives. In this study, Flemish poultry veterinarians (n = 13), broiler chicken producers (n = 27), and turkey producers (n = 4) were surveyed on killing methods they currently use in practice and alternative methods, on their opinion about what constitutes an appropriate method for on-farm killing of poultry, and on their reasons for killing. All poultry veterinarians and chicken producers who filled out the survey kill poultry by manual cervical dislocation ( CD ), whereas some turkey farmers also indicated killing by percussive blow to the head (n = 1) or exsanguination (n = 1). Turkey producers seem to be more inclined not to kill animals with injuries or symptoms of disease as compared to veterinarians or chicken producers, such that moribund turkeys are more likely to remain in the flock. Veterinarians considered the following properties of a killing method important: animal friendliness, applicability inside the stable, a high success rate, and time efficiency. Producers ranked the properties similarly, but for them, ease of performance and cost-efficiency were more important than applicability inside the stable. Producers scored those killing properties rather positively for manual as well as mechanical CD. Veterinarians and chicken producers considered the captive bolt method to be easy to perform, to have a high success rate, to be feasible to perform in the stable, and to be animal-friendly. Turkey producers, however, had doubts about the latter 2 properties. Gas, injection, and electrocution were inferior methods to kill poultry according to producers. In conclusion, manual CD is the most common method for killing broiler chickens and turkeys, and knowledge of, and experience with, alternative methods is very limited, both among veterinarians and producers. Informing them about legislation and training for the use of alternative killing techniques are recommended.

A decade on: where is the UK poultry industry for emergency on-farm killing?

“…1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing (PATOK) ( EC, 2009 ) and the UK national regulations that enforce PATOK, The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing Regulations (England 2015; Scotland 2012; Wales and Northern Ireland 2014 (WATOK) ( UK Government, 2015 )), the permitted emergency methods for killing poultry allow the use of cervical dislocation, percussive devices, decapitation, overdose of a lethal drug, electrical water bath stunning and the use of gases. However, previous reports have suggested that the primary method for killing poultry is cervical dislocation ( Sparrey et al, 2014 ; Martin, 2015 ; Watteyn et al, 2020 ) due to its apparent ease of application and practicality ( Erasmus et al, 2010a ; Martin et al, 2016 , 2018b ). Cervical dislocation (i.e., neck dislocation) can be split into 2 main categories: mechanical and manual; based on the aid of equipment (mechanical) or not (manual) ( Bader et al, 2014 ; Martin et al, 2016 , 2019 ; EFSA et al, 2019 ; Boyal et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Since then, a number of devices have been developed and become commercially available (e.g., CASH Small Animal Tool® [Frontmatec Accles & Shelvoke, Sutton Coldfield, UK], Turkey Euthanasia Device, Livetec Nex®, Koechner Euthanasia Device, Zephyr E and Zephyr EXL ( Livetec Systems ltd., 2018 ; Martin et al, 2018b , 2019 ; Woolcott et al, 2018b ; Hernandez et al, 2019a ; Boyal et al, 2020 ; Stiewert et al, 2021 ; Frontmatec accles & Shelvoke, 2022 )); however, whether the poultry industry in the UK and across the EU have adopted these methods and to what scale is relatively unknown. To our knowledge, only 2 studies have surveyed the killing methods used for poultry on-farm: 1) a pilot study in the UK in 2011, prior to the EC 1099/2009 enforcement ( Martin, 2015 ) and 2) in Belgium in 2017, post regulation enforcement ( Watteyn et al, 2020 ). Therefore, little remains known outside of the poultry industry regarding method availability, use and reasons behind method selection, and specifically how regulation reform impacted practices across the UK and Europe.…”

“…Therefore, little remains known outside of the poultry industry regarding method availability, use and reasons behind method selection, and specifically how regulation reform impacted practices across the UK and Europe. The Flemish study demonstrated manual cervical dislocation remained the most common method employed for killing broiler chickens and turkeys despite the introduction of legal restrictions between 2011 and 2017 ( Watteyn et al, 2020 ). However, as the authors highlighted this work was limited by a small sample size (a total of 44 participants) due to low response rates of uptake across poultry veterinarians and producers across Belgium at the time.…”

Animal welfare assessment of on-farm euthanasia methods for individual, heavy turkeys

“…The American Veterinary Medical Association recently published recommendations for euthanasia for poultry, including “gas inhalation, manually applied blunt force trauma, cervical dislocation, decapitation, electrocution, gunshot, captive bolt, and injectable agents” ( Leary et al., 2020 ). A survey in Belgium showed that 2 out of 4 of turkey producers and 92% of veterinarians always choose manual cervical dislocation for individual turkey euthanasia without considering bird weight ( Watteyn et al., 2020 ). Alternative methods of euthanasia need to be evaluated, because manual cervical dislocation requires physical strength from the operator and is susceptible to fatigue ( Martin, 2015 ; OIE, 2017 ).…”

“…Some industry stakeholders have expressed their willingness to try alternative methods. In the Belgian survey, 69% of veterinarians and 2 out of 4 turkey producers indicated their willingness to use euthanasia methods other than manual cervical dislocation ( Watteyn et al., 2020 ).…”