Broiler breeder hens — the parents of fast-growing meat chickens — are routinely feed-restricted to prevent obesity-related suffering, creating a different but equally serious welfare problem.
Broiler breeders represent a particularly cruel paradox: animals bred for rapid growth whose genetics make normal feeding incompatible with welfare. Too much food causes fatal obesity; too little causes chronic hunger. Neither outcome is acceptable. The root cause is breeding selection that has prioritised growth rate to an extreme. The solution is selecting less extreme genetics and ending the breeding practices that create this dilemma. Welfare-conscious poultry buyers can support change by choosing products from systems using slower-growing breeds with less extreme genetic selection.