Modern fast-growing broiler genetics produce birds that reach market weight in 35 days but experience serious welfare problems from rapid growth that slower-growing breeds avoid.
Fast-growing broiler genetics represent a welfare crisis embedded in the genetic foundation of the industry. Birds that double their body weight every week accumulate skeletal, cardiovascular, and muscle pathology at rates that would be recognized as disease in any other context. Many broilers in their final days cannot walk normally and spend most of their time lying in litter. The suffering is not from management failures but from the birds being what they were bred to be. Slower-growing genetics — breeds that take 55-70 days to market weight — resolve most of these problems: they walk more, engage in more natural behavior, and have dramatically lower pathology rates. The market transition is underway driven by corporate commitments, but requires sustained consumer and investor pressure to complete.