More meat chickens, also known as ‘broilers’, are farmed in the UK than any other type of farmed animal (with the exception of farmed fish). Around 850 million are reared in the UK every year - on average that’s about 27 chickens slaughtered every second of every day!

Unfortunately, the majority of meat chickens are reared to standards that we believe are not good enough in terms of animal welfare. We have particular concerns about the use of fast growing breeds, the lack of space available to the birds, the lack of natural light and a lack of items in the birds’ environment that allows them to fully express their natural behaviours.

Fortunately, some meat chickens are reared to higher welfare standards, such as to our own RSPCA welfare standards, which we believe provide chickens with a much better quality of life. We’re working hard to encourage as many farmers as possible to rear their chickens according to higher welfare standards, for retailers to stock these higher welfare products, and for consumers to support animal welfare by choosing to buy them.