Intensive Turkey Farms

Imagine for a moment the life of a turkey kept in an intensive farm

Turkeys are highly intelligent animals who live in complex social networks. Chicks stay with their mother for the whole first year of their lives, learning to be a turkey- or obtaining their L-plates as it were. At seven months turkeys reach sexual maturity. When fully grown each turkey has a wingspan of around 1.5 – 1.8 metres, and can fly up to 70kms per hour. At night turkey's roost in family groups in low laying tree branches.

Now let us return to the turkey kept at an intensive farm. Each year more than 4.7 million turkeys are slaughtered in Australia, and the industry is growing*.Turkeys are still young when slaughtered- females are killed when they are just 10 weeks old, while males are killed at 17 weeks of age*. However, a turkey's natural lifespan is 10 years.

Think eating turkey is healthy?

Turkeys are killed all year to prepare for the demand at Christmas. Often not all the carcases sell; in fact, turkeys can be kept frozen for up to 3 years before being sold at the supermarket.

Suffering

Breeder turkeys

The suffering of breeder turkeys is deplorable. Turkeys are bred to be so heavy (up to 30kgs) that most cannot move around at all as their immature legs can't support their weight. They are so large they are not able to naturally breed.

Poults

Baby turkeys (poults) are hatched from one of four hatcheries in Australia, they may then travel extremely long distances, e.g. from VIC to NSW to reach the 'growing sheds'*

Life in a Turkey shed

Stressed and crowded turkeys may peck at each other in frustration. Beak and toe 'trimming' is completed without any external supervision*. This 'trimming' may cause the turkeys constant pain and may cause eating difficulties.

Each turkey farm has up to 32,000 birds*. They live on a layer of litter made up of rice hulls, straw or wood shavings. This litter is not changed the entire time they live in these sheds. Imagine what 10 to17 weeks of 1000's of turkeys' urine and droppings smell like. Let's imagine the disease that these creatures suffer; the foot rot, bacterial infections, wound infections and respiratory disorders. Then let's imagine them suffering all of this in the dark. Imagine the fear.

They have broken bones, trouble breathing and wounds that create holes that bore into their bodies, which in-turn get smattered with waste and turn septic, not to mention the bone and joint disorders created by the lack of sunlight and breeding practices.

Vaccines against common, endemic diseases for turkeys are unavailable in Australia*. Therefore risk of disease outbreaks is high. In fact, the Australian Department of Agriculture states "there is little organised veterinary technical input into turkey farming in Australia."

Slaughter

At the slaughterhouse, turkeys are unloaded from crates and hung upside-down from shackles. This can be extremely painful, especially for the breeder turkeys who weigh as much as an 8 or 9 year old child. We have heard reports from slaughterhouse workers that sometimes the leg/s rip off from their body. The turkeys are dragged through a bath of electrified water to stun them before their throats are cut. Some turkeys may struggle during this procedure and their heads may miss the bath of water. These turkeys are then fully conscious during throat-cutting.

Modern farming has basically changed the physical nature of the turkey, but not its inherent genetic programming, or its mind. These birds are still programmed to behave as they do in the wild, but their bodies and living conditions forbid them.

There is no real debate as to whether the living conditions of these birds is wrong, because that's plain for all to see, the question is, what are you going to do about it?

What can you do?

Say 'no' to turkey! Spread the word- tell your friends or family, or pass this information on to someone else!

Download our Turkey Flyer here (link coming soon), print some out and give them to everyone you know. You could even plan a leafletting day with friends, and hand the flyers out to people outside your local supermarket. If you don't have a printer, call us and we can send you the flyers.

Join Animal Liberation NSW's turkey campaign by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

*Scott, P., Turner, A., Bibby, S., Chamings, A. (2005) Structure and Dynamics of Australia's Commercial Poultry and Ratite Industries. Report prepared for: The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.