Evaluation of the potential killing performance of novel percussive and cervical dislocation tools in chicken cadavers

ABSTRACT

1. Four mechanical poultry killing devices; modified Armadillo (MARM), modified Rabbit Zinger (MZIN), modified pliers (MPLI) and a novel mechanical cervical dislocation (NMCD) gloved device, were assessed for their killing potential in the cadavers of euthanised birds.

2. A 4 × 4 × 4 factorial design (batch × device × bird type + age) was employed. Ten bird cadavers per bird type and age were tested with each of the 4 devices (N = 160 birds). All cadavers were examined post-mortem to establish the anatomical damage caused.

3. NMCD, MARM and MZIN demonstrated killing potential, as well as consistency in their anatomical effects. NMCD had the highest killing potential, with 100% of birds sustaining the required physical trauma to have caused rapid death.

4. The MPLI was inconsistent, and only performed optimally for 27.5% of birds. Severe crushing injury was seen in >50% of MPLI birds, suggesting that birds would die of asphyxia rather than cerebral ischaemia, a major welfare concern. As a result, the MPLI are not recommended as a humane on-farm killing device for chickens.

5. This experiment provides important data on the killing potential of untried novel percussive and mechanical cervical dislocation methods, informing future studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Animal welfare
• cervical dislocation
• killing
• percussive
• post-mortem
• poultry

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA), U.K. via their Centenary Research Training Scholarship (RTS) awarded to Jessica Martin in 2011.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA), U.K. via their Centenary Research Training Scholarship (RTS) awarded to Jessica Martin in 2011.