The Short, Tough Life of Turkeys

Business Insider goes through the steps of a turkey's life, from artificial insemination to slaughter.  Here's a step I'd never known of, preparation for debeaking:

Hatching is only the beginning of a turkey's journey through industrial processing.
The chicks in this picture are being exposed to high-intensity light and partially microwaved to prepare for a routine surgery.
What surgery?
Having their beaks and talons cut off.
The beaks aren't necessary for eating, and they might scratch other turkeys.  Same for talons. So off they go!
As they get softened up to have their beaks and talons chopped off, some chicks fall from a conveyor belt or slide and are literally crushed in the machine, according to a hatchery investigation by Compassion Over Killing.

Not sure what exactly the high-intensity light and microwaves do for preparing the birds for surgery, but that is a wild looking machine.  The whole feature draws heavily on PETA and HSUS information.  However, I'm not sure that Big Ag could really do anything to make the process sound much better.  They've had a long time to explain away gestation crates, but their arguments don't seem to convince many folks who don't live on farms.