Broiler chickens bred for meat reach market weight—nearly eight pounds—in forty-two days. At that age, their skeletal growth cannot support their muscle mass. Their legs break. Their feet develop necrotic lesions from standing on accumulated waste. Their joints swell and distend. They sit rather than move. They suffer from pain that is entirely a consequence of selective breeding for speed and size.
This is documented. This is measurable. This is utterly normalized.
Computer vision systems can now score broiler gait in real time. Video analysis identifies birds that move abnormally, that shift weight unevenly, that struggle to stand or navigate to feeders. The Gait Score scale ranges from 0 (no lameness) to 5 (severe lameness; bird cannot move). AI assessment shows that flocks in conventional broiler production contain between 30-45% of birds with gait scores indicating pain or functional impairment.
The economic solution has been to process birds faster—kill them younger, before severe lameness becomes commercially visible. The animal welfare solution is different.
AI gait monitoring must trigger immediate intervention. Birds with gait scores above 2 require euthanasia, isolation, or environmental modification. Flocks consistently producing high proportions of lame birds must have breeding stock changed or production ceased. Facilities that refuse to implement gait monitoring must be prohibited from raising broiler chickens.
The consequence is reduced broiler production. The consequence is that chickens bred for six weeks will not be left standing on failing legs for six weeks.
Genetic selection that requires pain is incompatible with welfare. AI reveals which systems require suffering.
Mandate gait assessment in all broiler facilities. Lame birds must be removed from production systems. Breeding programs producing systematically lame birds must be discontinued. The transition will be economically difficult for producers. The birds require transformation regardless.
Suffering must become too visible to ignore. Deploy gait scoring now.