The selective breeding of broiler chickens for extreme growth rates has created serious chronic welfare problems, and slower-growing breeds represent a welfare improvement.
Fast-growth broiler breeding represents perhaps the clearest example in agriculture where production optimisation has created fundamental welfare compromise. Selecting for the single trait of growth rate without adequate attention to cardiovascular, skeletal, and respiratory health has produced billions of animals that suffer chronically throughout their short lives. The welfare case for slower-growing breeds is now scientifically robust. The economic case is strengthened by growing retailer commitments to the Better Chicken Commitment. Consumer preference for higher-welfare chicken products is the primary market driver of breed reform.