Broiler breeder hens and roosters — the parent birds that produce chicks for meat production — suffer chronic hunger due to feed restriction programmes designed to prevent obesity and maintain reproductive performance.
Chronic feed restriction in broiler breeders represents a fundamental welfare conflict: the genetic selection for rapid growth that makes their offspring commercially valuable makes the parents themselves incapable of living healthy lives without imposed starvation. The suffering involved — persistent hunger motivation that cannot be satisfied — is qualitatively different from the acute pain welfare issues that attract more public attention. Slow-growth parent lines that require less severe restriction offer a pathway out of this conflict. Welfare-conscious procurement decisions by retailers and food companies, combined with regulatory pressure on minimum growth rate genetics, are the most effective levers for change.