Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 48


     
     1        they work logically in sections through the house.
     2
     3   Q.   So the modules come in on the tractor?
     4        A.  That is correct.
     5
     6   Q.   And the tractor then moves out to the truck?
     7        A.  That is correct.
     8
     9   Q.   Are the people trained about putting the birds into the
    10        modules?
    11        A.  Yes, they are shown how to do it.
    12
    13   Q.   Do you know of a gentler, kinder, less hazardous system of
    14        loading birds for transport?
    15        A.  I am not aware of any other -- there is any other
    16        system and, certainly, the one that we use is preferable to
    17        the one which used to be used where birds had to be carried
    18        long distances out of the house to the lorry where the
    19        crates were on the lorry, and then they were pushed up,
    20        called a side loading machine, they were put up to load
    21        through the sides.
    22
    23   Q.   How are these loaded?
    24        A.  Well, because the chickens are put in the drawers, the
    25        drawers are slotted into the modules and the modules then
    26        are taken away on a fork lift tractor, so it is a fairly
    27        smooth operation.
    28
    29   Q.   How many modules will fit on to a lorry?
    30        A.  I think it would be about 20.  I know that a load would
    31        be about four-and-a-half thousand.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When they are put in the tray there would be
    34        nothing to stop them jumping or fluttering out in the first
    35        instance before they are pushed into the module?
    36        A.  The trays are like drawers and so they are pulled out
    37        about halfway.
    38
    39   Q.   But they are put in an open drawer then?
    40        A.  That is correct, and as the drawer fills up the
    41        chickens, the drawer is progressively closed a little bit
    42        more, so that the first chickens are pushed to the end of
    43        drawer and the latter ones fit at the front of the drawer.
    44
    45   Q.   But what I wanted to ask, do they ever try to get out by
    46        flapping their wings to get out of this unfamiliar drawer?
    47        A.  Occasionally they do.
    48
    49   MR. RAMPTON:  How are they restrained from doing that if they
    50        do? 
    51        A.  The way to retrain them is people, the catchers, as 
    52        they are doing the job, if a chicken looks as if it is 
    53        going to jump out they usually just put a hand on it and
    54        push it in underneath.
    55
    56   Q.   Are chickens averse to being handled by human beings?
    57        A.  I think they are like any animal, they react to being
    58        handled if they are not used to it.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you pick a chicken up it sometimes gets a

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