Broiler breeder chickens — the parents of meat chickens — experience severe chronic welfare problems from feed restriction programs designed to maintain reproductive health despite selection for rapid growth.
Broiler breeder welfare represents one of the most severe and underrecognized welfare problems in commercial poultry. The chronic hunger experienced by these animals is not a management failure but a structural consequence of breeding for rapid growth without considering the welfare of breeding stock. Research on broiler breeder hunger is unambiguous — these animals experience profound and continuous hunger throughout their productive lives. Solutions require addressing the breeding selection pressure that created the problem, including selection for welfare-positive traits in broiler breeds. Consumer pressure on food companies to source from slow-growing broiler breeds indirectly addresses breeder welfare by selecting breeding stock not requiring severe restriction.