Consumer campaigns and retailer commitments are driving adoption of slower-growing chicken breeds that suffer fewer health problems, but the transition from fast-growing breeds raises complex economic and welfare trade-off questions.
Fast-growing broiler breeds represent one of the clearest examples of welfare being systematically sacrificed for production efficiency. Lameness affects 25-30% of standard broilers with varying degrees of severity, causing chronic pain in millions of birds. Cardiac conditions including ascites (fluid accumulation) cause respiratory distress and death. Switching to slower-growing breeds demonstrably reduces these problems without eliminating all welfare concerns - stocking density, enrichment, and slaughter methods also require improvement. The global Better Chicken Commitment represents the largest coordinated farm animal welfare advance in history.