Providing environmental enrichment to broiler chickens offers the potential to improve welfare beyond mere absence of suffering, enabling expression of positive natural behaviours.
Broiler chicken welfare has historically focused on preventing the worst suffering - disease, lameness, heat stress. A welfare science approach centred on positive welfare asks what chickens actually need to experience good lives. Enrichment that enables dust bathing, perching, pecking at varied substrates, and exploration addresses the motivations of animals evolved for complex environments. Farms providing enriched environments with slower-growing breeds demonstrate that commercial production can go beyond suffering reduction to enabling genuinely positive welfare experiences. Consumer demand for higher welfare products creates the economic case for this transition.