A critical review of electrical water-bath stun systems for poultry slaughter and recent developments in alternative technologies.

Welfare during stunning and slaughter of poultry.

This paper describes research on the electrical stunning of poultry and the problems of achieving an effective humane stun with water bath stunners. The welfare and meat quality advantages of using gas mixtures to stun and kill birds are then described. The evidence strongly suggests that chickens and turkeys can be killed very humanely using either 90% argon in air or a mixture of 30% carbon d...

Which Alternative to Electrical Stunning Provides the Most Humane Stun for Poultry at Slaughter?

An HSUS Report: The Welfare of Birds at Slaughter

The customary slaughter method of birds killed for human consumption involves the stunning of several live birds at one time using electrical water baths supplied with constant voltages. The birds are hung upside-down on shackles prior to conveyance through the electrified bath. This system, which is used globally, is increasingly under scrutiny as research suggests that it can be both inhumane...

Animal welfare concerns during the use of the water bath for stunning broilers, hens, and ducks.

European legislation demands that slaughter animals, including poultry, be rendered immediately unconscious and insensible until death occurs through blood loss at slaughter. This study addressed requirements for stunner settings (i.e., voltage, wave oscillation frequency) and response parameters (i.e., applied current, behavior) affecting effective water bath stunning. An inventory of current ...

Stunning systems of poultry species

Introduction In the distant past large animals were sometimes stunned by a heavy blow on the head where poultry was decapitated before slaughter During the last century concern for animal welfare increased. Concussion stunning was deemed not satisfactory, and improved stunning methods were developed. Stunning by captive bolt was introduced at the end of the 19th century, electrical stunning at ...