A small number of birds are individually stunned with a hand-held stunner. In the majority of cases, however, turkeys are hung upside down by their legs from shackles which are on a moving line. This carries them to an electrically charged waterbath, through which the bird's head and upper torso are dragged. The purpose of stunning is to render the turkeys unconscious before their necks are cut. After stunning the bird's neck is cut.
Death is caused by loss of blood.
After neck-cutting, the birds are placed in the scalding tank, which is designed to loosen feathers to ease plucking. Clearly turkeys should be dead before entering the scalding tank. The Report's findings Turkeys are unloaded from the transport crates and hung upside down from shackles. This is frequently a stressful and painful process, with rough handling being commonplace as the birds are removed from the crates and placed in the shackles. The practice of suspending turkeys, which are heavy birds, upside down by their legs from shackles, places very considerable strain on the birds' legs and hips.