Hock burns affect a majority of commercial broilers and cause painful skin lesions from prolonged contact with wet litter, representing a widespread and largely preventable welfare problem.
Hock burns represent a welfare problem of extraordinary scale: hundreds of millions of birds per year experience painful skin lesions that worsen throughout the production cycle. Unlike footpad dermatitis, which affects the underside of the feet, hock burns affect the lateral surface of the leg joints. The two conditions often co-occur and compound each other, meaning many birds experience multi-site lower limb pain for the majority of their brief lives. Pain from hock burns affects movement, feeding access, and social behaviour. Fast-growing breeds that must rest frequently due to musculoskeletal discomfort are exposed to more litter contact per day, creating a welfare double jeopardy. The fact that hock burn prevalence is tracked at slaughter line in some EU countries and linked to farm-level feedback demonstrates that measurement and accountability reduce this welfare problem. Extending this accountability globally would benefit billions of animals.