Confinement rearing provides many opportunities to enhance the health and welfare of food animals by protecting them from adverse environmental conditions and predators, ensuring provision of adequate food and water, reducing aggression in many species, and enhancing the producer's ability to observe and access animals when they require care or handling. Under no circumstances should water be withheld. Feed restriction should be minimized. Careful monitoring of bird weights and weight loss, mortality, egg production, and behavior are needed to ensure that proper results are achieved humanely. The goal is to improve the bird's ability to produce a high quality egg with a good shell, not to replace the feathers.
Additional research is needed to improve the welfare aspects of the molting process.