The design of poultry housing significantly affects bird welfare through its impact on air quality, light, space, enrichment access, and thermal comfort.
Poultry housing design is a welfare lever that operates at scale - improvements in ventilation, lighting, litter management, or enrichment provision affect tens of thousands of birds simultaneously. The challenge is that welfare-positive design improvements often increase capital costs, creating pressure on producers competing on price. However, multiple studies show that better-designed housing with improved litter management, ventilation, and enrichment reduces disease rates and mortality, partially offsetting costs. Welfare certification that requires design standards creates the market signal that rewards higher welfare housing investment.