Leg disorders including contact dermatitis, hock burns, and lameness are among the most significant welfare problems in commercial broiler chicken production, affecting a substantial proportion of birds.
Lameness in broiler chickens is an acute welfare problem that affects hundreds of millions of individual birds globally each year. Birds in pain modify their gait, avoid movement, sit more than mobile birds, and choose food spiked with analgesics when given a choice — clear evidence of ongoing pain experience. The root cause — selection for extreme growth rates — can be addressed through breed change, a commercially viable option that major food companies are beginning to adopt.