**5. Conclusions**

Catching is a critical phase in the pre-slaughter chain, and this study shows that the catching and carrying method affects broiler welfare. One major finding is that there is a strong tendency towards more wing fractures when the birds are caught by two legs. In addition, the time to fill a transport module was less with the UPRIGHT method and resulted in a lower and more consistent animal density in the drawers compared to catching by two legs. Clearly, due to the small sample size, further studies are needed to form the basis for improved and more animal-friendly catching routines. It must be noted that both methods are likely to slow down the catch rate compared to one leg capture and this may have economic implications for the industry due to increased personnel costs. The consequence of this is unknown. However, catching by one leg is prohibited and alternative catching methods need to be implemented.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, K.E.K., E.G.G., A.L.A., R.O.M., E.T.; Formal Analysis, E.G.G.; Investigation, K.E.K., E.T. and A.L.A.; Resources, A.L.A.; Data Curation, E.G.G., E.T. and K.E.K.; Writing-Original Draft Preparation, K.E.K.; Writing-Review & Editing, K.E.K., E.G.G., Agnete Lien Aunsmo, R.O.M., E.T.; Visualization, K.E.K.; Supervision, K.E.K.; Project Administration, K.E.K. and E.T. All authors have been involved in developing, writing and commenting on the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors would like to thank Norsk Kylling AS and the involved farmers. A special thank you goes to the catching team for their sporty attitude and willingness to participate in this pilot study.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The study was performed under commercial conditions and did not include any intervention. Therefore, it was not evaluated by an ethics committee prior to the field work.
