Lighting management in poultry production profoundly affects bird welfare through its effects on activity, rest, eye health, and reproductive physiology.
Lighting welfare affects poultry at every stage of production through its profound influence on circadian biology, behavior, and physiology. Near-continuous light suppresses the natural rest-activity cycle that evolved over millions of years, disrupting sleep, hormone regulation, and immune function. Broilers under 23-hour lighting regimes show higher rates of leg problems, eye disorders, and sudden death syndrome compared to those receiving appropriate darkness periods. The welfare intervention is straightforward: providing a minimum 8-hour darkness period significantly reduces these health problems without unacceptable effects on production. LED lighting technology enables highly precise daylength and spectrum management that can simultaneously optimize bird welfare and production parameters. Welfare certification standards increasingly specify lighting requirements as a fundamental housing welfare condition.