Broiler breeder chickens — the parent birds that produce meat chickens — experience chronic hunger from feed restriction programs designed to prevent the health problems of their genetics.
Broiler breeder welfare reveals a deep structural problem in modern poultry genetics. The genetics that produce rapid growth in meat birds are incompatible with normal feeding patterns in the parent birds that carry those genetics — full feeding causes the same health problems in breeders as in broilers. The solution adopted by industry — chronic hunger through feed restriction — trades one welfare problem for another. Restricting feeding in animals with high food motivation causes a form of chronic suffering that behavioral research clearly documents. The only genuine solution is transitioning to genetics that do not require either rapid-growth-related pathology or its remedy of chronic hunger.