If turkeys are supposedly so aggressive, why are factory-farmed turkeys so docile?

Question

Many stories of wild turkeys paint a picture of them as being aggressive to people in public. If so, why do the turkeys in factory-farms behave so submissively towards the workers? They're handled, pushed from one place to another, picked up and dropped at other locations, etc. I don't know if there's any psychological difference between domestic and wild turkeys. The only differences are the size (domestics were bred for their large b*****s), and the feather colors (domestics have white feathers because people don't want feather pigments on their meat). Ironically enough, many people that care for turkeys as pets describe them as sweet and affectionate.

Answer 1

When you breed domestic animals, you can reinforce desirable traits.  You can develop cats or dogs with long tails, short tails, or no tails, depending on what you want.  Well, wild turkeys breed a certain amount of aggressiveness naturally.  Only the dominant males breed, so they are more likely to defend territories and flocks.  On the other hand, domestics have no need to dominate, and farmers don't want troublesome turkeys.

Answer 2

Domestic turkeys are much less intelligent than wild turkeys.  

When people talk about the aggressiveness of turkeys, they are talking mainly about tom-turkeys (hens to a lesser extent) that are allowed some freedom on the farm.  They instinctively protect their turf, not having enough brain to make an intelligent decision about it; and they are known to attack humans or anybody else on their turf.

However, if they are handled frequently from an early age, they become accustomed to humans and don't consider them as predators (even though we are, technically speaking...)

I have seen a tom turkey raised by small children, who apparently identifies as one of our flock, and frequently displays his fan tail to attract humans.  

In the big turkey factories that raise them for the meat, it is common practice to remove part of the beak so that they can't cause injury to each other or to humans by pecking.  This also reduces the risk in handling them.