Accepted meat chicken breeds

The following breeds have been independently assessed according to the RSPCA’s broiler breed welfare assessment protocol and have been accepted for use within the RSPCA Assured scheme.

The RSPCA broiler breed welfare assessment protocol assesses breeds for several key welfare outcome measures, including growth rate, leg health and mortality. All of the trials are independently carried out to ensure impartiality.

If you are interested in conducting a trial or have any questions, please contact the RSPCA farm animals department.

* Breeds under derogation must be re-tested within five years of their previous test. All other breeds, excluding the JA57 control breed, must be re-tested within eight years.
** Based on published breed performance data and calculated for birds as hatched, at an average live weight of 2.2kg at slaughter.
*** These breeds have been or are in the process of being discontinued, and are therefore not available at present.