Layer hens which no longer produce enough eggs are so badly treated that tens of thousands of them die before they reach the slaughterhouse, animal welfare group Dierenbescherming said on Monday.

‘The violent way in which they are caught and transported to slaughterhouses is totally unacceptable. We are extremely shocked,’ spokesman Frank Dales said in Monday’s AD.

The Netherlands has some 1,170 poultry farms with 46.5 million layer hens. Of those, six million are killed at a slaughterhouse in Friesland when they are no longer productive, while the rest are shipped abroad.

Squashed

The birds are caught by their feet and put into crates with 10 to 15 other birds for transportation. Because they are squashed in, many end up with broken bones and injuries. However, fines are only administered if 1% of the chickens die during the journey, the organisation said.

According to government inspectors, some 5.5 million Dutch layer hens are shipped to slaughterhouses in Poland. Some 2.5 million end up in France and Germany.

Layer hens, usually around 18 months old, cannot be killed in the same factories set up for broiler chickens, hence the long journeys abroad.

Dierenbescherming wants to hold talks with the food industry in an effort to find a solution for the problem. ‘Improvements could be made if producers of chicken soup and chicken-flavoured snacks are prepared to pay a couple more cents for a kilo of meat,’ said a spokesman.