Light management in broiler chicken houses significantly affects welfare through its effects on activity, growth, and health.
Broiler chicken lighting management is a welfare lever that is frequently under-appreciated in its significance. The practice of keeping birds under near-continuous light to maximize feeding time produces birds who are chronically sleep-deprived and fatigued — a welfare state that persists for the entire production cycle. The regulatory minimum of 6 hours darkness represents the floor rather than the ideal. Lighting programs that provide appropriate dark rest periods, natural spectrum light, and appropriate dimming schedules during peak activity periods produce birds with better bone strength, better immune function, and lower fear-related injury rates. These are technical interventions that cost little and deliver meaningful welfare improvement.