Broiler litter quality directly affects leg and foot health in chickens. Poor litter management causes widespread, painful conditions affecting the majority of conventionally farmed chickens.
Broiler litter welfare is a hidden but widespread source of suffering in commercial chicken production. Footpad dermatitis and hock burns from wet, high-ammonia litter cause chronic contact pain affecting the majority of conventionally farmed birds in poorly managed operations. These lesions progress from mild inflammation to severe ulceration — the latter involving exposed tissue that causes significant ongoing pain with each step. The scale is enormous: billions of chickens affected annually. The welfare solution is well understood — appropriate stocking density, effective ventilation, regular litter management, and litter quality monitoring. The fact that well-managed farms achieve dramatically lower footpad lesion scores demonstrates this is preventable rather than inevitable. Using footpad lesion monitoring as a welfare audit metric has been effective in the EU in identifying and improving poor performers.