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Update: He went rapidly downhill today, foot curled over and leg sticking out to the side, he couldn’t walk properly and kept falling over onto his face. He had vitamins and electrolytes, we put the splay leg brace on him and tried the chick chair and sock trick. I think the stress of that caused him to get pasty butt and he was miserable, shaking and chirping like he was in pain even though I washed him and cleared it up. It just kept pasting over. I don’t think he was ever going to be able to walk normally. I wrapped him in a sock, snuggled him for an hour and then culled him. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done so far living on the acreage, I’ve never killed anything other than bugs before!! That being said I am a nurse and so quality over quantity of life and minimizing suffering is what I value. I chose the decapitation with shears way and it didn’t go perfectly but it was over in less than 10 seconds and he’s not suffering anymore. I literally sobbed like a baby in my garage for 15 minutes but I know I did the right thing. This raising chickens thing is hard on the old heart!!!
