Blood Volume of Live Chickens and Influence of Slaughter Technique on Blood Loss

Abstract

BLOOD VOLUME of live chickens and subsequent removal of a portion of that blood during slaughter is important to the poultry processor who is concerned with loss resulting from poorly bled birds. With the introduction of newer techniques for evaluating blood content of live birds and the availability of modified slaughter methods, reevaluation of blood loss during slaughter was necessary. The objective of the present study was to determine (a) the blood volume of live chickens using a macro I131 procedure and (b) the effect of varied slaughtering techniques on amount of blood lost during specified bleeding times. Blood Volume of Live Chickens. The birds for this study consisted of 30 male commercial broilers ranging from 8 to 12 weeks in age. Six birds were studied per day on 5 different days. Feed was withdrawn from the birds 24 hours before, and water 4 hours before slaughter. The …