Broiler Leg Health: Welfare and Industry Reform

Leg disorders are the most prevalent welfare problem in commercial broiler chickens — breed selection, nutrition, and housing improvements can dramatically reduce prevalence.

Key Facts

• Up to 30% of commercial broilers show impaired walking ability at slaughter in conventional systems
• Fast-growing breeds develop leg problems including tibial dyschondroplasia and valgus-varus deformities
• Poor leg health causes chronic pain and impairs access to food, water, and normal behaviors
• Slower-growing breeds have dramatically better leg health welfare outcomes
• Good litter quality, lighting programs, and early growth monitoring reduce leg disorder prevalence

Welfare Considerations

Broiler leg disorders cause chronic welfare suffering at enormous scale. Impaired walking reduces access to food and water at feeders and drinkers, causing nutritional compromise in addition to locomotor pain. Gait scoring studies demonstrate that 20-30% of commercial broilers show gait impairment consistent with pain, and post-mortem joint pathology confirms structural disease underlying much of this lameness. The primary welfare intervention is breed selection — slower-growing breeds with gait scores equivalent to wild-type jungle fowl represent the highest animal welfare outcome, at the cost of extended growing periods. For faster-growing breeds, welfare improvements include reduced stocking density, improved litter quality, and management protocols that monitor and respond to leg health.

What You Can Do

• Choose chicken labeled from slower-growing breeds (label rouge, RSPCA Assured higher welfare)
• Support the Better Chicken Commitment that includes slower-growing breed requirements
• Advocate for gait scoring requirements in commercial broiler welfare audit frameworks
• Support research into the genetic and environmental factors driving broiler leg disorder prevalence
• Engage retailers and food service companies about their commitments to broiler leg health welfare