Farm Animals

Poultry Enrichment: Meeting the Behavioural Needs of Chickens

Chickens have complex behavioural needs including dustbathing, perching, foraging and social interaction. Enriched environments allow expression of these natural behaviours and improve welfare significantly.

Key Facts

Broiler chickens account for over 70 billion birds slaughtered globally each year
Foraging and dustbathing are highly motivated behaviours that birds will work hard to perform
Providing perches reduces fearfulness and improves leg health in laying hens
Environmental enrichment reduces aggressive pecking and feather damage
Slower-growing broiler breeds show better welfare outcomes in enriched systems

Welfare Considerations

Behavioural deprivation is a form of suffering. When chickens are prevented from dustbathing, they perform vacuum dustbathing on bare floors — a clear indication of thwarted motivation. Providing even simple enrichments like scattered substrate for foraging and perching poles measurably improves physical and psychological welfare.

What You Can Do

Choose chicken products certified to higher welfare standards with outdoor access
Support the Better Chicken Commitment which requires enriched indoor standards
Ask supermarkets about their chicken welfare policies
Reduce chicken consumption to incentivise higher welfare production
Advocate for enrichment requirements in national poultry welfare codes