Commercial broiler chickens have been bred for such extreme growth rates that their bodies cause their own suffering. Slower-growing breeds represent the most transformative welfare improvement available for this species.
The genetics of commercial broiler chickens represent the most fundamental welfare problem in the industry — birds whose own bodies cause their suffering regardless of other management factors. A bird that cannot walk normally, struggles to reach food and water, and spends most of its life recumbent due to musculoskeletal pain is experiencing significant welfare harm built into its genome. Slower-growing breeds are not a niche welfare premium — they are the baseline of acceptable welfare that the industry standard fails to meet. Transitioning the global broiler industry to slower-growing breeds would represent the single largest welfare improvement in animal agriculture history by number of animals benefited.