Providing basic enrichments to broiler and laying hens dramatically improves welfare with relatively modest management investment.
Poultry enrichment represents one of the best welfare-to-cost ratios in farm animal welfare. Simple additions — perches, pecking objects, dust bath areas, natural light — address fundamental behavioral needs and reduce the injury, disease, and stress that characterize barren intensive systems. Enrichment also improves productivity metrics, making the welfare-production alignment argument compelling.