Broiler chickens are increasingly recognized as behaviorally complex animals whose welfare benefits from environmental enrichment. Adding simple enrichment to barren housing significantly improves outcomes.
Broiler chickens are commonly assumed to be passive, inactive birds due to their rapid growth and the crowded conditions they are kept in — but this perception reflects the impoverishment of their environment rather than their behavioral capacity. When given the opportunity, broilers explore, peck at objects, use perches, and engage in social behavior. Providing simple enrichment — hay bales, hanging objects, ramps — in otherwise barren broiler houses costs relatively little but produces measurable improvements in activity levels, fearfulness, and leg health. The integration of enrichment requirements into major welfare certification schemes reflects growing recognition that behavioral freedom is a core component of broiler welfare, not an optional extra available only to free-range birds.