Keel bone fractures affect the majority of laying hens in Britain and represent a major, underrecognised welfare crisis. Understanding causes and prevention is essential.
Keel bone fracture welfare is a hidden epidemic in laying hen production that affects the majority of commercial hens regardless of production system. A hen with a fractured keel bone experiences chronic pain throughout the remainder of her laying life - which can be months. The welfare scale is enormous: tens of millions of hens in Britain may be living with this condition at any given time. The causes are partly genetic (selection for egg production over skeletal health) and partly environmental (collision with perches and ramps). The welfare case for selective breeding programmes that prioritise skeletal integrity, combined with housing design improvements, is compelling. This is a welfare issue where the solution requires coordinated industry, regulatory, and scientific action.