Transitioning the broiler industry to slower-growing breeds dramatically improves welfare by reducing the chronic health problems that afflict standard commercial birds.
Switching from fast-growing to slow-growing chicken breeds is one of the most impactful single changes available to the poultry industry for welfare improvement. The chronic lameness, heart failure, and respiratory disease that affect the majority of standard broilers are not inevitable — they are predictable consequences of genetic selection for maximum growth rate at the expense of health. Slower-growing breeds show dramatically lower rates of these conditions. The small additional cost is borne by consumers but represents transformative welfare improvement for billions of birds.