Time spent by broiler chickens in transit to processing plants

Department of Meat Animal Science, University of Bristol, Langford.

The minimum distance transported, the journey time and the total marketing time were estimated for 5819 journeys in which 19.3 million broilers were transported to four processing plants. The average distance travelled was 33.5 km, the average journey plus unloading time was 2.7 hours and the average total marketing time, from the start of loading to the completion of unloading, was 3.6 hours. The maximum recorded journey plus unloading time was 12.1 hours and the maximum recorded total marketing time was 12.8 hours. There was considerable variation between plants, those with smaller annual throughputs tending to have longer average times. In 46 per cent of journeys the birds were unloaded within three hours of the start of loading, in 78 per cent within five hours and in 94 per cent within seven hours of the start of loading.

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