Welfare science for domestic chickens has advanced substantially. New research on cognition, sentience and positive welfare is changing how we understand and should treat farmed poultry.
The emerging picture from chicken welfare science is of an animal whose cognitive and emotional complexity far exceeds historic assumptions. This has direct implications for how farming systems should be assessed — not just against behavioural suppression metrics but against the positive welfare states that cognitive complexity enables. Chickens in enriched environments demonstrate curiosity, play and complex social interactions that indicate a richer inner life than previously acknowledged by the industry or regulators.