Commercial turkeys are among the most welfare-compromised farmed animals, with selective breeding for rapid growth causing health problems similar to those in fast-growing broiler chickens.
Commercial turkeys suffer from the same fundamental problem as fast-growing broiler chickens: their bodies grow faster than their skeletal and cardiovascular systems can support. Lameness, painful skeletal deformities, and heart failure are common. The inability to mate naturally reflects the extreme body shape selected for consumer preferences. In barren, high-density environments, turkeys also develop boredom and feather-pecking behavior. The welfare cost of the Christmas and Thanksgiving turkey is largely invisible to most consumers.