The welfare crisis created by fast-growing broiler breeds, the science behind their health problems, and the growing movement toward higher-welfare breeds in commercial production.
The welfare crisis in broiler chicken production is largely breed-driven: the selective pressure for rapid muscle growth has produced animals whose bodies are physiologically mismatched with their activity systems, causing endemic lameness, cardiovascular disease, and chronic pain at a scale affecting tens of billions of animals annually. Fast-growing breeds allocated identical management to slower-growing breeds show dramatically worse welfare outcomes — their metabolic demands outpace their cardiovascular and skeletal systems, causing suffering that is so normalized in the industry it has historically been invisible. The Better Chicken Commitment represents the most significant welfare reform movement in commercial poultry history, requiring companies to source from slower-growing breeds with maximum growth rates of no more than 50 grams per day, while also mandating improved stocking density, enrichment, and controlled atmosphere stunning. Research comparing welfare across breeds demonstrates that the welfare improvements from breed change are substantial and real — not merely theoretical.