Commercial turkey production raises significant welfare concerns including skeletal problems from rapid growth, inability to perform natural behaviors, and high stress during catching and transport.
Commercial turkey welfare is compromised at multiple points: chronic lameness causing persistent pain and mobility restrictions, inability to express complex foraging and social behaviors, stocking densities that prevent dust bathing and perching, and the extreme stress of catching, crating, and transport at slaughter weight. The selective pressure for maximum breast meat has created birds whose bodies are physiologically unsuited for normal locomotion - this represents one of the starkest examples of breeding for production at the expense of welfare. Improving turkey welfare requires both breed selection changes and production system reforms.