The quality of the litter substrate in broiler houses directly affects bird welfare through footpad health, hockburn, and behavioural opportunities. Reform is gaining momentum.
Litter quality is a deceptively simple welfare issue with far-reaching consequences. Poor litter causes FPD — chronic, painful lesions on the feet of broiler chickens that affect millions of birds globally — but good litter quality also enables natural dustbathing and foraging behaviour that are positively welfare-beneficial. The connections between litter quality, stocking density, ventilation, and bird health make it a systems indicator: poor litter quality signals multiple upstream management problems simultaneously. FPD monitoring schemes that trigger mandatory management changes when scores are high represent an important welfare governance innovation, using a measurable welfare outcome to drive management improvement rather than relying solely on input standards.