Parent flocks of broiler chickens are chronically food-restricted to prevent metabolic disease, creating severe welfare harm through persistent hunger throughout their lives.
The welfare harm of chronic feed restriction in broiler parents is fundamental and unresolved within current production systems. These birds are genetically programmed with high feed intake drives because their offspring are selected for rapid growth, but if allowed to eat freely they develop metabolic disease. The solution adopted by the industry is severe chronic restriction that keeps birds alive but permanently hungry. Validated welfare indicators including stereotypic food-seeking behavior and cognitive tests demonstrate genuine chronic motivational frustration. Alternative genetic approaches and dietary strategies that decouple growth genetics from parent feeding requirements represent the path toward resolving this welfare problem without simply choosing between two harms.