How To Humanely Euthanize A Chicken..

[USAmma]

As a nurse I have seen a couple cases of internal decapitation in people. It's awful. Painful. They know what's going on. Basically you separate their lower body from the brain, so they no longer have the nerve control to make the diaphragm move, so they suffocate. In humans they are "bagged" to help them breathe until they are intubated and hooked up to a ventllator. Depending on how fast they are saved after the accident, they can retain full brain function if they have oxygen. If they go too long without breathing their brain cells die and they also suffer heart attack and then die.

Pulling the neck of an animal would, I imagine, be similar to this horrific experience. The body is paralyzed from voluntary movement so they cannot breathe, gasp, or cry out to show their suffering as other types of injuries may cause. They may shudder because the nerve cells are going crazy. The brain is still very much alive and conscious until oxygen deprivation causes the brain to pass out and die.

I just put a quail to sleep with the CO2 method. It worked fast and basically it went to sleep and then died. Very peaceful with a drowsy looking quail. No struggling. No trauma. Was actually more peaceful than when I took a pet bird to the vet to be put down a couple years ago. The vet had to inject the med into the jugular so the bird was made to be restrained and then the neck put to one side. Bird was very upset. The quail was not.

 

[Beyond Yonder]

I googled Baking soda & vinegar or peroxide to put down an animal and did not find it. Shat is the formula?

 

[Beyond Yonder]

I would also like to know the answer to this. Can you eat them with the vinegar and baking soda method.

 

[Dee Dee 2]

I think it is FAR more humane to euthanize an animal who has no quality of life than it is to let it live and suffer. HOWEVER ,,, I do not think I could ever put one of my beloved pets down. I may be wrong ~ please correct me if I am ~ but to my knowledge the vinegar baking soda thing is the same as a 'gas chamber'. The animal actually SLOWLY suffocates. IF I ever had to put one of my chickens down I would use the following. Put the bird in a 5 gallon bucket that has a tight fitting lid. Get a hose that will fit OVER the tail pipe on your vehicle. (Shop vac etc.) Cut a hole in the lid of the bucket the exact size as the diameter of the hose. Attach hose to tail pipe of the vehicle and the other end into lid on the bucket. Start your car and let it run for about 4 min. The carbon monoxide puts birdie to sleep ~ forever. This may not be a good way either ?? There is a post on page 11 ~ I think~ posted by a nurse. It is well worth reading. I have used the bucket, hose, vehicle method to dispatch a large # of mice I had caught in a live trap.

 

[crayon]

I never thought about this co2 way before. I have a few chickens (we have 300) that the winter was very hard on. :-( And it seems some got frostbit and are coming to the end of the process (thanks -30 temps)...

I may need to do this... agh.. I hate chicken farming...

 

[pollo portero]

I once used this method on a kitten who had been attacked by a dog. It is not clean and the poor kitty struggled the whole time. Plus, the exhaust gases are hot and the smell of burning cat fur is not pleasant. I can't imagine doing this to a pet chicken. I would never use this method again.

 

[CMV]

This is a very old post.

I wouldn't use most of these methods nearly 5 years later. These days, after nearly 5 additional years of experience under my belt, cervical dislocation is the best, quickest, easiest, and most humane way to dispatch a bird. The many read studies and the years of hands-on research have been definitive- severing the spinal cord, up high, is the way to go. Gassing a bird is easy on us, but not so easy on the bird. Cervical dislocation may seem harsh to one who has never done it, but it really is the kindest method of dispatch to the bird.

 

[Ann1986]

Ive been trying to nurse my injured hen back to health. She had a broken leg & weve tried everything. Eventually, it healed up & she began walking on it. After a little while of her being inside, we felt she was ready to live outside with her friends. Now, after about a month or two of her being out, her leg has gotten worse. It is now completely backwards & she walks in circles. When It rains, she stays out in the rain. I cant see her suffer anymore, but I know that emotionally & physically - i cannot handle culling her myself. I dont want to be the one to personally kill her. I couldnt live with myself. I just want to know, if theres any way to do it with out breaking her neck or chopping her head off.. I would really love it if she just fell asleep & died in her sleep.. ? Maybe theres someone in my area that can cull her for me ?!? Im in Central NJ..


Mods, If this is in the wrong spot, please move it. Thanks !

I always take them to the vet. They inject something in an artery near the wings and she is gone within 2 seconds. Really quietly, closes eyes and heart stops. No struggle

 

[subhanalah]

This is a very old post.

 I wouldn't use most of these methods nearly 5 years later.  These days, after nearly 5 additional years of experience under my belt, cervical dislocation is the best, quickest, easiest, and most humane way to dispatch a bird.  The many read studies and the years of hands-on research have been definitive- severing the spinal cord, up high, is the way to go.  Gassing a bird is easy on us, but not so easy on the bird.  Cervical dislocation may seem harsh to one who has never done it, but it really is the kindest method of dispatch to the bird.  

Okay, how do you do cervical dislocation without the head just popping off? One good thing about that is you know it's dead, but it's awful messy.

 

[subhanalah]

I remember when I was a little kid, I was out making a snow fort.  I was out there for a long time, and I got really sleepy.  When your body temp drops, you get sleepy.  I laid down to sleep (would have died) and just then my mom realized she couldn't see me any more from the kitchen window.  

The freezer isn't painful.   Think of how close in nature they are to lizards.   When it gets cold where I live, Iguanas drop out of the trees, sometimes they're dead, sometimes they're just in suspended animation, depending how cold.  Just sayin'.

this is not true at all. Birds are not cold blooded, they produce their own body heat. If it is a full grown chicken, they will just get frostbite of the extremities and if they finally do succumb, they've suffered almost endlessly because someone couldn't do it the right way.