Poultry

Poultry are domesticated birds that are farmed for their meat or eggs, and include laying hens, meat chickens (broilers), turkeys, geese and ducks. Huge numbers of poultry are reared in the UK, with around 32 million laying hens and around 850 million meat chickens reared every year on average.

We have major concerns about some of the systems in which poultry are reared - for example the use of cages to keep egg laying hens. We also have concerns about the standards many poultry are reared according to, such as those developed by the industry for meat chickens and turkeys.

We’re working in a lot of different ways to try to raise poultry welfare standards. As well as trying to get stricter laws to protect the birds, and encouraging people to change their shopping habits, we’re also showing how rearing poultry to higher standards of animal welfare can benefit everyone - the birds, farmers, food retailers and consumers.