The backyard chicken movement has grown significantly, bringing welfare responsibility to urban and suburban chicken keepers who may lack farming expertise.
Backyard chicken keeping presents welfare opportunities and challenges. Well-managed backyard flocks with appropriate space, shelter, social companions, and attentive owners can live excellent lives with outdoor access, diverse diet, and human interaction. However, welfare problems in urban flocks are also common: inadequate predator protection exposing hens to night-time attacks, insufficient knowledge of poultry health leading to unrecognized and untreated disease, and the challenge of what to do with hens who have stopped laying - the productive years are only a fraction of a chicken's natural lifespan. The male chick problem is acute: purchased chick assortments are often 50% male, and urban ordinances prohibiting roosters create disposal questions that new keepers are unprepared for.