Handling machine
Mechanical Chicken Harvester
Automated catching for transport
What it is
A machine moves through the shed, sweeping floor-reared chickens onto low conveyors or into rotating collection heads, and feeds them into transport modules.
Where it sits in the system
The machine replaces or supplements the crews who catch birds by hand. Emptying a shed before slaughter becomes a mechanical job rather than a labour one.
Welfare concern
Birds are pushed together ahead of the machine and collide with the gear and with each other on the way into the modules. Fear, bruising, fractures, and suffocation follow when the conveyor runs fast, the machine is poorly maintained, or the loading is rushed.
Worth being precise about
A well-adjusted machine can reduce some of the variability of hand-catching, so this is not automatically worse than a crew. Machine design, flock condition, lighting, operator skill, speed, and loading density in the modules decide the outcome.
