Reducing poultry preslaughter losses: crating density effects under different lairage periods at slaughterhouse

The aim of this work was to assess the effects of densities per crate on mortality rates of broilers during preslaughter operations, under different lairage time intervals. Pre-slaughter data from 13,937 broiler flocks were recorded daily during 2006, in a commercial slaughterhouse in southeastern Brazil. The main factors which influenced mortality rates were assessed, such as density per crate, daily periods and lairage time in an environmental controlled lairage. For densities above seven birds per crate, an increase in mortality rates was verified mainly in the warm periods. During the night period, the highest incidence of death losses was noticed when the density was below six birds. Considered a controlled environment, the desirable lairage time for death reduction before arrival at the slaughterhouse was above three hours for higher densities and below one hour for densities below seven birds per crate.