Leg disorders are one of the most significant welfare problems in broiler chicken production, causing chronic pain and impaired mobility that affects all daily activities. Improving leg health requires addressing genetics, nutrition, and management simultaneously.
Leg disorders in broilers represent one of the most significant sources of chronic pain in commercial animal production, affecting hundreds of millions of individual birds. The combination of pain, reduced mobility, and impaired access to resources compounds welfare costs substantially. This is not a problem of inadequate care but of deliberate genetic selection for production traits that cause structural pathology. Transitioning to slower-growing breeds is the most effective intervention, alongside improved litter management and nutritional support for skeletal health.