About half will shed most of their primary feathers. Some will die. This cruelty is legal and is designed to produce an extra egg-laying cycle. Some farmers add a further twist by removing all water for 24 hours at a time. Every year, about one million ducks are conscious when their throats are cut.
Thousands are still alive when they are submerged in scalding water to be de-feathered.
Even those who are electrically stunned may still be conscious but paralyzed. Rather than rendering them unconscious, stunning may inflict severe pain on ducks. There appears to be no humane way to kill birds in the super-efficient, mass production poultry industry. Maple Leaf Farms is the largest duck producer in the US, raising 14 million ducks per year. They justify factory farming by claiming it is better for the ducks in fact, they boast that their birds are not free-range .