Skip to main content

Story: Poultry industry

Processing chickens

Image
Processing chickens

Broiler chickens are slaughtered when 34–42 days old. In 1986 these chickens were removed from their crates and hung upside down by their feet on a moving line. Their heads and necks were placed in an electrically charged water bath to stun them into unconsciousness. The line then moves them to an automatic neck cutter.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1986/4431/26

by John Nicholson

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Vanessa Wintle and Stacey Lepper, Poultry industry – Poultry meat farming, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/17288/processing-chickens (accessed 9 June 2026).

Story by Vanessa Wintle and Stacey Lepper, published 1 March 2009.