Pecking order establishment and maintenance in poultry flocks is a natural social process that, under commercial farming conditions, frequently escalates to injurious pecking and feather damage.
Injurious feather pecking in commercial poultry is one of the most persistent welfare problems in the industry. It arises from the frustration of natural behavioural needs - foraging, exploration, dust bathing - combined with high stocking densities that prevent normal social dynamics. The industry's primary response, beak trimming, addresses the symptom by reducing the damage of pecking without addressing its cause. Evidence-based alternatives that address root causes include litter provision for foraging, environmental enrichment, breed selection, and management of flock size and density. These approaches reduce feather pecking more sustainably than beak trimming and without causing the acute and chronic pain associated with beak trimming itself. Higher welfare standards are moving in this direction.