Keel bone fractures affect the majority of laying hens in many housing systems, causing chronic pain that significantly impairs welfare and remains one of the most underaddressed problems in poultry production.
Keel bone fractures represent one of the most widespread and underappreciated welfare problems in modern egg production. The transition to cage-free housing, while genuinely improving on many welfare dimensions, has inadvertently increased keel bone fracture rates through greater flight activity in aviary systems. This creates a painful irony: better systems for behavioral welfare have introduced new physical welfare problems. Solutions including perch redesign, improved genetics for bone density, and calcium-optimized feeding are being researched, but implementation across the industry is slow.