Broiler breeders experience chronic hunger from feed restriction programmes designed to prevent the obesity that would compromise their reproductive welfare and survival.
Broiler breeder welfare presents one of the most clearly identified ethical dilemmas in farm animal production: both paths available lead to significant welfare harm. Allowing unrestricted feeding causes obesity that leads to cardiovascular disease, reproductive failure, and premature death. Feed restriction prevents these harms but causes chronic hunger that motivates constant food-seeking and produces measurable stress. The hunger experienced by restricted broiler breeders is not a temporary management stress but a condition that persists throughout their productive life of roughly 60 weeks. Research into alternative diet formulations using high-fibre, low-energy ingredients offers a partial solution that allows greater feed volume without the caloric excess that causes obesity. The root cause of the problem, however, lies in the genetics selected for commercial broiler growth, and the long-term solution requires breeding reform.