The heavy use of antibiotics in intensive poultry production to prevent disease in crowded conditions has welfare implications for birds and drives antimicrobial resistance that affects human and animal health globally.
Antibiotic use in poultry is the symptom of a welfare problem — it compensates for conditions that cause disease, rather than preventing disease by improving conditions. Chickens in overcrowded, poorly ventilated, litter-compromised environments are susceptible to respiratory and enteric disease requiring antibiotic treatment. Reducing antibiotic use without addressing the underlying welfare deficits leads to increased disease, suffering, and mortality. The antibiotic stewardship agenda and the farm animal welfare agenda are therefore aligned: the most sustainable path to antibiotic reduction runs through improved housing, stocking density, ventilation, and enrichment that reduce disease pressure by improving welfare.