Chicken cheeriness studied in Guelph food fowl research

How do you measure a chicken's happiness? Is it in theway it runs for food? How much time it spends preening?

To size up what might make chickens happy in their brief lives,researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontarioareputting 16 breeds through physical fitness and behavioural tests.

They're watching how well birds scramble over a barrier for food, how skittish they seem and whether they play with a fake worm.

Chickens can't say how they feel, but playing with a fake wormmay be a sign of happiness.

"We have to infer when an animal is happy or content or experiencing pleasure based on their behaviour," said Stephanie Torrey, one of the researchers.

In recent years, the animal welfare world has moved beyond looking at how to minimize suffering to exploring whether animalscan also enjoy their lives, Torrey said.

Such measures may be considered irrelevant by companies butunderscore a broader lack of consensus around the welfare ofchickens, which are sometimes slaughtered as soon as five weeksafter hatching.

Animal welfare advocates say cruelty begins with birds that havebeen bred to have breasts so big they can barely walk. They say today's chickens are genetic monstrosities crippled by pain and thatthe industry needs to switch breeds.

Many in the industry say there's no problem and that chickens maynot move around a lot because they're sedentary. Even if they were to agree to change breeds, it's not clear what the alternativesshould look like.

The two sides disagree about the cause and frequency of healthissues among broilers chickens. Tyson and Sanderson Farms, forexample, acknowledge that chicken breasts have ballooned over theyears, but they say they're not seeing widespread problems as aresult.

"If they can't move and get to the feed trough, they're notgoing to survive," said Mike Cockrell, chief financial officer for Sanderson Farms.

'Couch potatoes'

John Glisson of the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association says broilerchickens are "couch potatoes" and that some people may mistake thebirds' laziness for a medical issue. He said trying to assesswelfare is tricky beyond established industry measures, like whethera chicken dies from disease before it's slaughtered.

The industry says changing breeds is unnecessary, and thatswitching to broiler chickens that don't grow as big or as fastwould mean using up more water and other resources. Chicken pricesat the supermarket would be higher too.

Still, animal welfare is becoming a bigger public relationsconcern, and companies say they're always looking for ways to takebetter care of their chickens.

Tyson recently ran a trial that let chickens pick from pens withvarying levels of light to determine which they prefer. Perdue istesting giving its conventional birds as much light and space as itsorganic birds, which are the same breed.

The Humane Society of the United States says stepping up livingconditions helps, but it believes the bigger problem is breedingthat has resulted in disfigured chickens. It says chickens have beengenetically manipulated to have massive breasts their legs cannotsupport.

"It is crazy for anyone to have to remind the industry thatbirds naturally walk," said Josh Balk, the Humane Society's vice-president of farm animal protection.

Balk said the study in Canada will provide important informationon what type of chickens might suffer less.University of Guelph researchers are also tracking chicken traitslike weight, growth rate and meat quality they hope will be useful to the industry. Aviagen and Tyson-owned Cobb, which supply breeds to chicken producers, are providing birds for the study, includingbreeds that are widely used.

The companies say they already track health and welfare, but that they're interested in the research.

The Guelph study is being funded by the Global AnimalPartnership, which certifies corporate animal welfare standards. In2016, it launched a campaign to get companies to switch to "slower growing" breeds. Since then, it has acknowledged that chickenwelfare is more complicated than just growth rate.

It's now pushing for a "better" chicken, and hopes the studywill help define what that entails.

Only a small percentage of chickens in the U.S. areGAP-certified, and spelling out new requirements for breeds risks making certification even rarer.

Playing chickens

Anne Malleau, the group's executive director, notes some of theresearchers' tests may seem far out. But she said providing"enrichments" such as places where chickens can rest or perch was also seen as a fringe idea before becoming more accepted.

GAP was founded a decade ago with funding from Whole Foods, whichstill pays Malleau's and another staffer's salaries.

Back in Guelph, researchers note that chicken traits can make formarketable imagery. That includes behaviours like their willingnessto engage with a fake worm which they note may be misinterpretedas "playing"and happiness.

"The jury's still out whether domestic chickens, with theircomparatively smaller brains, have the capacity to play," Torrey said.