Broiler breeder chickens — the parent birds of commercial meat chickens — suffer chronic hunger due to feed restriction practices designed to prevent health problems.
Broiler breeder welfare presents one of the most ethically difficult dilemmas in commercial poultry farming. The same genetics that make commercial broilers grow rapidly to slaughter weight cause their parent birds to experience severe health consequences if fed freely. The solution adopted by the industry — severe feed restriction — trades one welfare harm for another, creating birds in chronic hunger states for most of their productive lives. The hunger is not trivial: restricted broiler breeders show persistent food-seeking behaviour, aggression at feeders, and stereotypic pecking on non-food items throughout their waking hours. This is a welfare problem created by breeding decisions, and its long-term solution requires selecting breeding lines that do not impose this impossible trade-off — a goal that welfare research is actively pursuing.