DIY HUMANE way to Kill Slaughter Chicken (Stun-kill, Gas)

[Beekissed]

Thanks for the kudos...was quite proud of myself

Excellent processing effort and story, Crenees!

 

[nanaimochick]

Has anyone ever just used an injection to put a chicken down (euthanasia)? I have an old bird that I would like to get rid of, she's not laying and certainly not edible as she's so boney. I was wondering about getting some kind of injection, same way you put a dog or cat down. Seems very humane. We only can have 6 chickens and I have never done this before, so don't laugh or think me silly.

 

[Oregon Blues]

What do you plan to inject the bird with? You won't be able to get your hands on the drug the vet uses.

But, yes, you can take your bird into the vet and have it put to sleep with an injection if you are more comfortable with that. Then the body must be disposed of properly because the meat is poisoned.

 

[EweSheep]

Use the broomstick method...quick and without pain.

 

[GBov]

Has anyone ever just used an injection to put a chicken down (euthanasia)? I have an old bird that I would like to get rid of, she's not laying and certainly not edible as she's so boney. I was wondering about getting some kind of injection, same way you put a dog or cat down. Seems very humane. We only can have 6 chickens and I have never done this before, so don't laugh or think me silly.

Even a bony chicken makes good stock and its a shame to waste her. I like pruners for taking the head off. Just hang her upsidedown, put a sock over her head - makes you both feel better - and snip. Easy Peasy!

 

[goldnchocolate]

Quote:

I personally wouldn't use nippers on a live animal(unless very tiny), as the angle of the cutting creates pressure before cutting and seems to just squeeze closed as opposed to the sudden, rapid chop of an axe or the slice of a sharp knife across the membranes.

I do, however, use the pruners to sever the head after death.

This is exactly why I won't use loppers to kill a chicken. I tried cutting off the head of a dead rooster, before processing it, and all the loppers did was to bend the neck. I tried and tried to get it to cut clean through but it couldn't seem to pierce the skin. These are the same loppers that will easily cut through a 2 inch tree branch.

 

[goldnchocolate]

Quote:

Has anyone ever just used an injection to put a chicken down (euthanasia)? I have an old bird that I would like to get rid of, she's not laying and certainly not edible as she's so boney. I was wondering about getting some kind of injection, same way you put a dog or cat down. Seems very humane. We only can have 6 chickens and I have never done this before, so don't laugh or think me silly.

I won't laugh at you. Many years ago, I took my son's pet rooster to the vet to be put down.

More recently I was hoping to "gently" kill my old gentleman roo. He hadn't been doing well and was unable to eat/swallow regular chicken food. He used to scream, like I was killing him, whenever I would have to catch him to trim his overgrown beak so I knew that catching him would send him into a panic and I was trying to avoid that. I thought that it might be easy to make him sleepy by giving him a dose of benadryl and then do the deed. Every morning he would come to the front door looking for his bread soaked in milk, so I just added it to the milk. It made him sleepy but not THAT much. Then I thought that I could give him one of my leftover (from shoulder surgery) pills of oxycodone....sure used to make me go to sleep.....but nope....it made him nice and peppy, though. He ended up passing on his own so I didn't end up needing to help him along. The next thing that I was going to try was a little whiskey in his milk.

 

[booker81]

I believe there is an article somewhere out there for vet/animal labs on the proper euthanasia of poultry/birds, along with studies of the various mechanisms.

For me, it's always slicing one or both veins in the neck, just under the head. I lack the coordination to handle an axe/hatchet (believe me when I say this), and I also lack the simple ability to use loppers/nippers correctly. Drives my husband nuts (a tree trimmer and expert in those things), so I stick with my trusty scalpel. I also now hold onto my birds as they hang and pass away, so I can control their wings and sometimes stroke their feathers and talk gently to them.

For the older hen, I'd personally process her still for stew pot, but it can be hard if you're the one who's kept her for a long time. You could find a vet who has the correct drugs to euthanize, or find someone who will process her humanely for their own family's food (I do this for a lot of folks in the area - take their older/unwanted birds, they know I'll be processing them, but they don't want to do it and they know I'll be humane about it).

 

[galanie]

Quote:

  I personally wouldn't use nippers on a live animal(unless very tiny), as the angle of the cutting creates pressure before cutting and seems to just squeeze closed as opposed to the sudden, rapid chop of an axe or the slice of a sharp knife across the membranes.

I do, however, use the pruners to sever the head after death.   

This is exactly why I won't use loppers to kill a chicken. I tried cutting off the head of a dead rooster, before processing it, and all the loppers did was to bend the neck. I tried and tried to get it to cut clean through but it couldn't seem to pierce the skin. These are the same loppers that will easily cut through a 2 inch tree branch.

A tree branch and a chickens neck are very different. Stuff needs to be REALLY REALLY SHARP to cut a chicken's neck or artery. Wood will almost just crush in two with enough force. Not so with live flesh.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

There's really nothing "wrong" about dispatching a chicken and NOT eating it. Sure, the meat could have been consumed by some human or animal, but you could say the same thing about a pet rabbit, guinea pig, pony, etc. Would it be a "shame" to waste them if you buried them and didn't eat them instead?

If you have the resources, the $$$ and an available professional, go ahead and have a vet euthanize your old/ailing chickens. Otherwise, learn a method that you can handle, or find a friend who will do it for you. Sometimes it's easier to dispatch someone else's chicken for them, if you aren't sentimentally attached to them.