diff --git a/docs/modules/ROOT/partials/apis/camel-k-crds.adoc b/docs/modules/ROOT/partials/apis/camel-k-crds.adoc
index 0a65eef48b..ba68494f78 100644
--- a/docs/modules/ROOT/partials/apis/camel-k-crds.adoc
+++ b/docs/modules/ROOT/partials/apis/camel-k-crds.adoc
@@ -6512,7 +6512,7 @@ Deprecated: to be removed from trait configuration.
 
 The health trait is responsible for configuring the health probes on the integration container.
 
-It's disabled by default.
+It's enabled by default.
 
 
 [cols="2,2a",options="header"]
diff --git a/docs/modules/traits/pages/health.adoc b/docs/modules/traits/pages/health.adoc
index 1f44025088..faf6433dec 100755
--- a/docs/modules/traits/pages/health.adoc
+++ b/docs/modules/traits/pages/health.adoc
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 // Start of autogenerated code - DO NOT EDIT! (description)
 The health trait is responsible for configuring the health probes on the integration container.
 
-It's disabled by default.
+It's enabled by default.
 
 
 This trait is available in the following profiles: **Kubernetes, Knative, OpenShift**.
diff --git a/pkg/apis/camel/v1/trait/health.go b/pkg/apis/camel/v1/trait/health.go
index 587249afe2..5b4e26a69a 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/camel/v1/trait/health.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/camel/v1/trait/health.go
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ package trait
 
 // The health trait is responsible for configuring the health probes on the integration container.
 //
-// It's disabled by default.
+// It's enabled by default.
 //
 // +camel-k:trait=health.
 type HealthTrait struct {
diff --git a/pkg/trait/health.go b/pkg/trait/health.go
index cb357a39ec..d400763fed 100644
--- a/pkg/trait/health.go
+++ b/pkg/trait/health.go
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func (t *healthTrait) Configure(e *Environment) (bool, *TraitCondition, error) {
 		!e.IntegrationInPhase(v1.IntegrationPhaseInitialization) && !e.IntegrationInRunningPhases() {
 		return false, nil, nil
 	}
-	if !pointer.BoolDeref(t.Enabled, false) {
+	if !pointer.BoolDeref(t.Enabled, true) {
 		return false, nil, nil
 	}
 
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func (t *healthTrait) Apply(e *Environment) error {
 
 	container := e.GetIntegrationContainer()
 	if container == nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("unable to find integration container: %s", e.Integration.Name)
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to find integration container for %s", e.Integration.Name)
 	}
 	var port *intstr.IntOrString
 	// Use the default named HTTP container port if it exists.
diff --git a/pkg/trait/health_test.go b/pkg/trait/health_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fbcf8f1b15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/trait/health_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+/*
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package trait
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	v1 "github.com/apache/camel-k/v2/pkg/apis/camel/v1"
+	"github.com/apache/camel-k/v2/pkg/util/camel"
+	"github.com/apache/camel-k/v2/pkg/util/kubernetes"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+
+	appsv1 "k8s.io/api/apps/v1"
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+)
+
+func TestConfigureHealthTraitDoesSucceed(t *testing.T) {
+	ht, environment := createNominalHealthTrait(t)
+	configured, condition, err := ht.Configure(environment)
+
+	assert.True(t, configured)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Nil(t, condition)
+}
+
+func TestConfigureHealthTraitDisabled(t *testing.T) {
+	enabled := false
+	ht, environment := createNominalHealthTrait(t)
+	ht.Enabled = &enabled
+	configured, condition, err := ht.Configure(environment)
+
+	assert.False(t, configured)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Nil(t, condition)
+}
+
+func TestApplyHealthTraitDefault(t *testing.T) {
+	ht, environment := createNominalHealthTrait(t)
+	configured, condition, err := ht.Configure(environment)
+	assert.True(t, configured)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Nil(t, condition)
+
+	err = ht.Apply(environment)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "/q/health/ready", environment.GetIntegrationContainer().ReadinessProbe.HTTPGet.Path)
+	assert.Equal(t, corev1.URISchemeHTTP, environment.GetIntegrationContainer().ReadinessProbe.HTTPGet.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "8080", environment.GetIntegrationContainer().ReadinessProbe.HTTPGet.Port.String())
+}
+func TestApplyHealthTraitLivenessDefault(t *testing.T) {
+	enabled := true
+	ht, environment := createNominalHealthTrait(t)
+	ht.LivenessProbeEnabled = &enabled
+	configured, condition, err := ht.Configure(environment)
+	assert.True(t, configured)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Nil(t, condition)
+
+	err = ht.Apply(environment)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "/q/health/live", environment.GetIntegrationContainer().LivenessProbe.HTTPGet.Path)
+	assert.Equal(t, corev1.URISchemeHTTP, environment.GetIntegrationContainer().LivenessProbe.HTTPGet.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "8080", environment.GetIntegrationContainer().LivenessProbe.HTTPGet.Port.String())
+}
+
+func TestApplyHealthTraitStartupDefault(t *testing.T) {
+	enabled := true
+	ht, environment := createNominalHealthTrait(t)
+	ht.StartupProbeEnabled = &enabled
+	configured, condition, err := ht.Configure(environment)
+	assert.True(t, configured)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Nil(t, condition)
+
+	err = ht.Apply(environment)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "/q/health/started", environment.GetIntegrationContainer().StartupProbe.HTTPGet.Path)
+	assert.Equal(t, corev1.URISchemeHTTP, environment.GetIntegrationContainer().StartupProbe.HTTPGet.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "8080", environment.GetIntegrationContainer().StartupProbe.HTTPGet.Port.String())
+}
+
+func createNominalHealthTrait(t *testing.T) (*healthTrait, *Environment) {
+	t.Helper()
+	catalog, err := camel.DefaultCatalog()
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	trait, _ := newHealthTrait().(*healthTrait)
+
+	environment := &Environment{
+		CamelCatalog: catalog,
+		Catalog:      NewCatalog(nil),
+		Integration: &v1.Integration{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Name:       "integration-name",
+				Generation: 1,
+			},
+			Status: v1.IntegrationStatus{
+				Phase: v1.IntegrationPhaseRunning,
+			},
+		},
+		Resources: kubernetes.NewCollection(),
+	}
+
+	deployment := appsv1.Deployment{
+		TypeMeta: metav1.TypeMeta{
+			Kind:       "Deployment",
+			APIVersion: appsv1.SchemeGroupVersion.String(),
+		},
+		Spec: appsv1.DeploymentSpec{
+			Template: corev1.PodTemplateSpec{
+				Spec: corev1.PodSpec{
+					Containers: []corev1.Container{
+						{Name: "integration"},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	environment.Resources.Add(&deployment)
+
+	return trait, environment
+}
diff --git a/pkg/trait/jvm.go b/pkg/trait/jvm.go
index ffcf2ccd98..96734335ef 100644
--- a/pkg/trait/jvm.go
+++ b/pkg/trait/jvm.go
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ func (t *jvmTrait) Apply(e *Environment) error {
 
 	container := e.GetIntegrationContainer()
 	if container == nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("unable to find integration container: %s", e.Integration.Name)
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to find integration container for %s", e.Integration.Name)
 	}
 
 	// Build the container command
diff --git a/pkg/trait/mount.go b/pkg/trait/mount.go
index 75aa96faaa..17e299a114 100644
--- a/pkg/trait/mount.go
+++ b/pkg/trait/mount.go
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func (t *mountTrait) Configure(e *Environment) (bool, *TraitCondition, error) {
 func (t *mountTrait) Apply(e *Environment) error {
 	container := e.GetIntegrationContainer()
 	if container == nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("unable to find integration container: %s", e.Integration.Name)
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to find integration container for %s", e.Integration.Name)
 	}
 
 	var volumes *[]corev1.Volume
diff --git a/pkg/trait/quarkus.go b/pkg/trait/quarkus.go
index cb8b216f0b..de84986316 100644
--- a/pkg/trait/quarkus.go
+++ b/pkg/trait/quarkus.go
@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@ func (t *quarkusTrait) applyWhenKitReady(e *Environment) error {
 	if e.IntegrationInRunningPhases() && t.isNativeIntegration(e) {
 		container := e.GetIntegrationContainer()
 		if container == nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("unable to find integration container: %s", e.Integration.Name)
+			return fmt.Errorf("unable to find integration container for %s", e.Integration.Name)
 		}
 
 		container.Command = []string{"./camel-k-integration-" + defaults.Version + "-runner"}
diff --git a/resources/traits.yaml b/resources/traits.yaml
index 5fd331dd26..d0036e4a5a 100755
--- a/resources/traits.yaml
+++ b/resources/traits.yaml
@@ -675,7 +675,7 @@ traits:
   - Knative
   - OpenShift
   description: The health trait is responsible for configuring the health probes on
-    the integration container. It's disabled by default.
+    the integration container. It's enabled by default.
   properties:
   - name: enabled
     type: bool