November 9, 2011

Norway's chicken mortality rates down

The number of chickens that died en route to slaughterhouses dropped by 13,000 in 2010, according to statistics presented by Animalia.

In total, 99,000 chickens died during transport, down from 112,000 in 2009. The rate at which chickens die during transport was lowered to 0.16%, down from 0.20% the year before.

According to Tor Arne Ruud of Animalia, the numbers are encouraging, although the rate is still too high. Changing temperatures, for example, is still a large contributor to the death of chickens during transport. Measures are being taken to ensure that these continue to decrease in the future.

Statistics show that four-legged animals have a much higher survival rate. Only 10 cattle, 202 sheep and 428 pigs died during transport in 2010. Between 0.003-0.027% of four-legged animals died during transport for the year.