Farm Broiler Chicken Welfare: Fast Growth and Its Costs

Modern broiler chickens are bred to grow so rapidly that many suffer from painful skeletal disorders, heart failure, and chronic lameness before reaching slaughter weight.

Key Facts

Commercial broilers reach slaughter weight in just 35 to 42 days — twice as fast as in 1960
Up to 30 percent of broilers in some studies show gait abnormalities indicating lameness
Ascites — fluid accumulation from heart failure — affects significant proportions of fast-growing flocks
Broilers are so heavy relative to their skeletal development that many struggle to walk
Contact dermatitis from sitting on litter causes painful breast and hock burns
Slower-growing breeds achieve slaughter weight in 56 to 70 days with dramatically better welfare outcomes

Welfare Considerations

The welfare crisis in broiler chickens is fundamentally a breeding crisis: the extreme growth rates selected for economic efficiency have created animals whose physiology cannot sustain their own body weight. A broiler at slaughter age is physiologically equivalent to a nine-year-old human child of 135 kilograms — the metabolic demand on the cardiovascular and skeletal system is simply overwhelming. The result is endemic lameness, heart failure, and physical inability to perform normal behaviors. Transitioning to slower-growing breeds resolves most of these welfare problems and represents the most impactful single change available in broiler production.

What You Can Do

Choose chicken products from certified higher-welfare farms using slower-growing breeds
Support the Better Chicken Commitment and similar industry reform initiatives
Advocate for breeding standards that prioritize broiler health over maximum growth rate
Reduce chicken consumption to lower demand from intensive fast-growth production systems
Support retailers and food companies in adopting higher-welfare broiler sourcing commitments