Broiler breeder chickens, the parent birds that produce meat chickens, face severe chronic welfare problems due to feed restriction programmes required to manage their excessive growth genetics.
Broiler breeders represent a deeply troubling welfare problem because their chronic suffering is structurally built into the production system. The genetic selection that produces efficient meat growth in commercial broilers creates birds whose appetite regulation is dysregulated; they are biologically driven to consume far more food than is compatible with long-term health. Feed restriction is therefore not a welfare choice but a necessity imposed by genetics that the industry created. The welfare solution lies upstream: selecting for moderate growth rates that allow breeders to be fed more adequately. Slow-growing broiler breeds require breeders without chronic hunger. The continued use of fast-growth genetics perpetuates suffering in hundreds of millions of parent birds that never appear in consumer-visible welfare debates.