Transitional housing systems for broilers attempt to bridge the gap between conventional barren housing and fully outdoor systems, providing improved welfare while maintaining production economics during the industry shift to higher standards.
Transitional housing systems represent pragmatic progress in an industry where full transformation to outdoor access is economically and logistically challenging in the short term. By providing more space, natural light, enrichment, and vertical elements, transitional systems enable more natural behaviour expression than barren conventional housing — though they cannot replicate the full behavioural repertoire available outdoors. Birds in transitional systems show higher rates of positive welfare behaviours including perching, wing stretching, and dust bathing than those in conventional housing. Maintaining consumer and retailer pressure on producers to continue improving from transitional toward fully outdoor standards prevents transitional systems from becoming a permanent ceiling rather than a genuine stepping stone.