Environmental enrichment in broiler production can improve welfare outcomes for billions of chickens annually by enabling natural behaviors and reducing the harms of intensive confinement.
The welfare of broiler chickens is shaped by the interaction of genetic selection for extreme growth rates and environmental conditions that cannot compensate for the resulting physiological compromise. Rapid growth strains the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular system, causing lameness that impairs access to food and water and causes chronic pain; this is the dominant welfare concern in commercial broiler production. Environmental enrichment — perches, objects, substrate, appropriate light — addresses behavioral deprivation and can reduce some welfare harms (gait problems, footpad disease) but cannot resolve the core welfare problem of pathological growth rates. Meaningful welfare improvement requires both improved environments and transition to slower-growing breeds with lower rates of production-related disease. The scale of broiler production means even small improvements in welfare standards translate to enormous reductions in aggregate suffering.