Broiler breeder chickens — the parents of commercial meat chickens — are maintained at 30-50% below ad-lib feed intake to prevent obesity that would compromise their reproductive performance. This feed restriction causes chronic hunger that many welfare scientists consider one of the most serious unresolved welfare problems in commercial poultry production.
Chronic hunger in broiler breeders is validated by multiple independent measures: they will work harder for food, consume all available food immediately and continue seeking more, show elevated ghrelin (hunger hormone), and display food-related stereotypies that persist even when satiated briefly. This constant motivational state of hunger is maintained for the entirety of a 60-week productive life. The welfare trade-off argument — that unrestricted birds develop leg disorders and early mortality — is real but does not resolve the ethical problem of systematic hunger induction. Diluted diet approaches, alternative breed selection, and enriched feeder access are partially ameliorating strategies, but none fully resolve the hunger welfare problem.