Keel bone fractures affect the majority of laying hens in cage-free aviary systems, causing chronic pain that is largely invisible to consumers and regulators. Addressing this requires breed and system-level change.
Keel bone fractures represent a systemic welfare crisis in cage-free laying hen production — a crisis that is invisible at point of sale. Hens with keel fractures experience chronic pain affecting every perching and landing movement throughout their productive lives. The shift to cage-free systems has been welfare-positive in many respects but has introduced this new, previously underappreciated welfare problem at scale. Addressing it requires investment in breed selection, aviary design research, and welfare outcome monitoring — not just system-type labelling.