Animal welfare is taken very seriously at Hazeldenes. Maintaining higher-welfare standards involves staying up-to-date on best practices and adopting the latest technologies available. As regulations evolve and change, we are committed to ensuring conformance and adoption of the latest recognised standards.​

To further enhance our commitment to the health and welfare of our birds, we use consulting veterinarian staff across all stages of our business. The vets advise on nutrition, general bird health, as well as their wellbeing.

We care deeply about the welfare of our birds from the very outset. Our rearing and breeder farms are equipped to control the temperature, humidity, lighting and feeding, ensuring the most comfortable environment possible for the birds. Our chicks are hatched in our hatchery, designed to follow best-practice standards, offering facilities aimed at providing a comfortable and low-stress environment.​

Our dedicated quality and technical team support our growers to ensure the adoption and management of the RSPCA and FREPA Standards. To create happy healthy chickens, our birds are fed a quality grain diet which consists predominantly of wheat, barley, oats and corn. We are committed to raising our chickens with no added hormones or added growth promotants.

We are exceptionally proud to have been one of the early adopters of the RSPCA Approved higher-welfare standards for meat chickens.

All of our farms undergo a robust assessment 2-4 times a year, to over 300 requirements, to achieve RSPCA Approved certification – which ultimately leads to better welfare.

Our barn raised birds are reared in an enriched environment with interesting objects to interact with. They enjoy more space to move than legally required, quality lighting periods to reflect daylight hours, and can perch, dust-bathe and forage to their hearts’ content.

When Hazeldenes commenced farming operations at Lockwood in the 1960’s, our chickens were farmed in free range coops and moved around open paddocks. Today we continue that tradition.

All of our free range farms are certified by RSPCA Approved.

Once fully feathered, during daylight hours our free range chickens can roam and forage naturally in secure well-fenced areas with trees and shade. At night (and during extreme weather conditions) they are housed in barns to keep them warm, comfortable and safe from predators.

Our commitment to free range farming helps us to provide Australians with quality, great tasting chicken.

Find out more about the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme here.

One of our most significant innovations in bird welfare is our fully enclosed bird lairage area that is temperature, humidity and air pressure controlled for bird comfort. Lighting is on the dark, relaxing end of the spectrum, and we run a state-of-the-art multi-phase stunning system that aligns with high welfare standards, both within Australia and internationally.