Why You Should Care About Turkeys

The life of a turkey farmed for their flesh

Discover the difference between the life of sheep farmed for their wool versus sheep living free by using the slider on the image above.

The lives of wild turkeys are fascinating. These birds are truly an underrated treasure with glorious iridescent feathers that shine in the sun, flight speeds of up to fifty miles per hour, and complex social groups of up to 200 individuals. It’s easy to be captivated by turkeys. It’s no wonder that the bodies of turkeys sold in stores for Thanksgiving are often packaged with illustrations of colorful wild turkeys proudly displaying their feathers.

But the life of a farmed turkey is a sad shadow of the lives their wild counterparts lead.

Map created by Food & Water Watch

Too large to mate naturally

Broad-breasted turkeys are large birds, bred to grow fast at an unnatural pace. Because of this, it is impossible for them to mate naturally. Instead, birds are artificially inseminated.

Both the collection of semen and artificial insemination are done in assembly line fashion - it has to be fast and profitable.

Male turkeys are confined in dark, crowded pens for most of their life.

Turkeys alter the colors on the neck and head. These tom turkeys crowded into a pen are stressed.

In order to collect the semen, the turkey male is stranded, his copulatory organ is manually stimulated and the semen is collected by sucking it through a tube or by using a vacuum pump.

This semen is then used to artificially inseminate the female turkeys in the hen house.

Hens are immobilized with their rear upwards by clamping their legs into metal forceps. Their vent - the outside opening of the cloaca through which the turkey releases eggs and feces- is open and the workers stick their thumb under the vent pushing it until the oviduct is exposed. Then, by using a tube and an air compressor device the semen solution is pushed into the hen’s oviduct.

Hatched into chaos

The fertilized eggs the hen lays are collected and placed in artificial incubators. Turkeys never hear their mother’s voice.

In birds, such as turkeys and chickens, a bond forms between mother and chick before hatching. Mothers vocally communicate with the chicks while they’re still in the egg, and after hatching the chicks immediately recognise their mom by her voice.

Instead of their mother’s unique call, a turkey chick hatches into a world of chaos. Loud machinery and the peeps of other chicks greet them.

Mutilated after hatching

Turkeys headed to industrial farms will be de-beaked, in which a portion of their nerve- and blood-rich beak is cut or lasered off. Some farms, particularly those raising male turkeys, will sever the first digit of the toes to prevent bruising caused by fighting.

Debeaking causes chronic pain but increases profit on turkey farms.

After hatching, chicks are placed in grow-out sheds.

Misery in sheds

Thousands of chicks are confined into windowless sheds, where they remain for months until they reach slaughter weight.

These sheds are only cleaned after birds are sent to slaughter. The barns at Animal Place are cleaned daily, because fecal buildup can cause spikes in ammonia and increase the risk of health problems.

A crowded shed hardly resembles a “barn.”

Turkeys on farms are not afforded that basic right of clean housing. The sheds they live in are full of dangerous ammonia, dust and dander, which causes respiratory distress, illness, and even death.

Because they grow so quickly, it is common to find birds languishing with broken or injured legs, unable to walk to food or water.

To maintain high growth rates and reduce disease from poor living conditions, birds are fed antimicrobial laced food.

Transport of terror

After birds reach slaughter weight, between 4-6 months of age, they are violently rounded up and crammed into open-aired transport crates.

Transport to slaughter on an open-air semi truck is incredibly stressful for a bird.

While the U.S. Humane Slaughter Act mandates that mammals be stunned before having their throats slit, this law does not include birds.

Turkeys are hung upside-down in shackles for slaughter. While some slaughterhouses use electrified baths to stun birds before slaughter, this is not a legal requirement. Even when this method is used, because turkeys’ wings sometimes hang below their heads, they often feel the painful shocks before fully submerging.

Looking at the lives of most turkeys today, it’s hard to imagine these birds descended from flocks who freely roamed acres of land, foraging for insects on forest floors. Despite the drastic changes in their bodies, domestic turkeys are the same magnificent birds.

Isn’t it time we started treating them like it?