Broiler Breeder Welfare: The Hidden Welfare Problem

Broiler breeder birds - parent stock of commercial chickens - face severe chronic hunger from feed restriction programs designed to prevent obesity-related mortality.

Key Facts

Broiler breeders are feed-restricted to 60-75% of ad libitum intake to prevent reproductive failure
Feed-restricted breeders show persistent hunger behaviors including stereotypic pecking and feather pulling
Satiation tests show breeders show high motivation to find additional food
Qualitative behavior assessments show breeders in chronic negative affective states
Genetic selection for slower growth in breeders would reduce the need for severe restriction
Few consumers are aware that their chicken meat comes from parents kept perpetually hungry

Welfare Considerations

Broiler breeder welfare represents one of the most severe and poorly publicized welfare problems in commercial poultry. The parent birds of all commercial chicken meat are kept chronically hungry - an essential consequence of breeding birds for such extreme growth rates that they would die of heart failure or metabolic disease if allowed to eat freely. This chronic hunger is measured as a persistent negative affective state lasting for months throughout the productive life of billions of parent birds. The solution lies in selecting slower-growing broiler breeds.

What You Can Do

Choose chicken products from companies committed to slower-growing broiler breeds
Support the European Chicken Commitment and equivalent pledges that address breeder welfare
Donate to organizations researching breeding solutions to the broiler breeder welfare problem
Raise awareness about broiler breeder welfare which is rarely discussed even among informed consumers