I don't mean to cause any offense SIU, but what you've been told is a big load of bull****.
Chickens don't have their beaks burned off; how would they eat? It would serve absolutely no purpose. Yeah, they're slaughtered under a year old, but how is that wrong? They're full grown before a year is out, so it makes little economic sense to keep them alive. It sure isn't immoral/inhumane to kill them young. Also, chickens aren't killed by drowning or gassing, they're killed by electrocution since it makes the feathers much easier to remove. They don't feel a thing when you jolt them with thousands of volts.
Speaking as a cattle rancher, someone with knowledge about these things. Cattle most certainly are
NOT stuffed in crates shortly after birth, to live there for life. Calves are born, castrated (in a humane manner, trust me on this. They're neutered via constriction of an elastic band. Everything just goes numb) then get an ear-tag identifying them (no worse than a person getting an earring). After that, they live with their mothers on pasture. The pasture is about 50 acres in size, so there's plenty of room. Plenty of grass and water. Or hay and water before the grass is growing. They grow until they're roughly 700 pounds (8 months or so), then they're sold. After that, they go to the feedlot where they're grain-fed for another several months (always with space to move around and do what cows do...which is primarly eat, sleep, and crap) until they're around 1300 pounds, and then they're slaughtered. They are slaughtered via a painless procedure whereby their brain is penetrated by a sharp object, and they die instantly.
Animal rights activists are (in a lot of cases) manipulative in the extreme. For example, it was proven that here in Canada, where they petition for the outlawing of the seal hunt, it was shown that they organized the skinning of a live seal. They then filmed this, and used it as their ammunition to try and outlaw it. I don't know about you, but this sickens me a hell of a lot more than how animals are slaughtered. Sickens me.
I'm not trying to convince you to eat meat, since you seem rather convinced that it's the right thing to do. But you sure wouldn't have survived being a vegetarian back a couple hundred years ago
I've participated in the slaughtering of several of our own animals. They're shot in the head and die right away. Sometimes they live to a ripe old age, 14 years or so (cows don't have a long natural lifespan).
The ways people kill animals nowadays is one hell of a lot more humane than how animals kill each other. Sometimes I think people (animal rights activists) are just looking for some cause to get the public upset so they can rake in the cash from donations. In fact, I'm sure that's what some of them are in it for. Now, I'm not saying all are like that, but I'm sure a lot are.
I will remain a proud meat-eating person for all my life. I will never stop eating meat...and enjoy every bite of it.