Human way to cull

[Lacrystol]

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No she has not been with the others, 4 days after showing signs I immediately brought her in the house and put her in one of my incubators, in which I will probably end up throwing out now. But During the first 4 days she was isolated outside in a cage. so No she has not been with the others, when the vet told me it could be Mareks I immediately stripped down the coop, I scrubbed everything, threw out any and all bedding even though she wasn't with them, I was afraid they could get it just by the air. I know sounds kind of silly and crazy..... I know of this disease being so highly contagious and when he said that FEAR STRUCK IN. OMG..... NOOOOOOO... was my first thought.

 

[TrystInn]

Stand leaning over with your feet shoulder-width apart, place a broomstick (or similar) under the balls of your feet. Place the chicken's head (underside facing away from you) and beak under the broomstick, grasp by the feet and straighten up quickly.

Its quick, not messy at all and over before you know it.

Very sorry, hon.

 

[Mamma_Duck04]

Your vet can euthanize her the same way they do dogs & cats, as has been mentioned. This separates her from your flock for the deed & it's virtually bloodless (aside from the injection), opposed to most of the other methods. If I were that worried about infectious diseases, I would take it in & have it put down, they can handle the body (most vets send unclaimed bodies to the city somewhere- the clinic I worked at sent theirs to the Animal Control- where they basically cremate the remains & it gets used in fertilizer for the city ways, like medians, trees, etc.- so it's been 'heat treated' as you said you'd do).

 

[AngryHummingbird]

In my experience the 'cleanest' way to cull, without a vet, is dry ice. (Carbon Dioxide) Place chicken in a big old tupperware bin, poke holes in the lid of a smaller box and put the dry ice in that, then put the small box in with the hen. Place large lid on, but not airtight. In my experience they're unconscious within a miniute or so, but take far longer then that to die. Just leave the body in the closed bin for an hour or so. Any signs of distress would mean too much co2 introduced at once. I think most grocery stores carry dry ice.

Hope the rest of your flock is alright.

 

[Lacrystol]

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Wow interesting..

 

[Melissa Rose]

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Wow I have not had to cull luckily yet and I have been dreading it knowing that eventually.... This seems bad of course but not so bad as some of the ways. Thank You for your suggestion!



Lacrystol I am so sorry for your situation! I found a rabbit once down by my mail box and I thought it had been severely mauled by a dog so I brought it into my home and put it in my guest room in a box. The next morning I took it to a vet first thing and he told me it was ear canker and extremely contagious and he euthanized the rabbit. I was sooooo freaked out that I had exposed my beloved babies to a contagen!!!! My heart is with you

 

[hoog]

I had my whole flock get infected with a respiratory disease. I had to kill them all. It sucked and it was a definite drain emotionally but it had to be done. I just took a hoe and placed it over the neck and stomped. The blood stayed on the ground and the birds died quickly. Worked just like a guillotine.

On a side note… My new flock is completely healthy now. I learned my lesson and only hatch eggs or get new born chicks. If I absolutely must get an adult bird he gets a long quarantine before he gets to go with the flock and I never buy from an auction.

 

[MCbur-burk]

My condolences and wishing you well in this challenging time.
In one episode of River Cottage they used a 12 volt car battery hooked up to some kind of earmuff type contraption. Basically one side of the "ear muffs" connected to battery positive and the other side connected to battery negative and placed on either side of the head. They held the chook by the legs as the electrocution causes the muscles to flex and the wings to flap frantically - this is a normal response of electricity going through the body and not a chicken in panic mode. I figure the method is humane as it is the method recommended by the British RSPCA (a country that has no animal circuses thanks to animal rights activists and their RSPCA).

 

[reveriereptile]

I just had to have my FIL put one of my silkies down. I went out to watch and also to examine the chicken after for possible signs of disease.

My FIL was wearing those thick heavy barn boots that you just slip on and laid the bird on a raised up large rock. Luckily the bird wasn't really moving so I didn't have to hold it but he did a quick stomp on the head. He did do following stomps just to be sure and it put the bird down fast before it realized what happened. There was some blood but it wasn't gushing all over the place. If you laid some plastic down under the bird it might help with clean up.

You could possibly use a few large trash bags in one another and slice the head off with a knife above the bag and drop the bird in to help keep the blood from getting all over.

 

[Pele]

I am so sorry that you're having to face this decision, it's a hard one

I am a rather poor individual who is super squeamish about harming animals, so I sympathize about looking for the least messy and most humane way to cull that won't cost a bundle.

I ended up with a hen once who was laying internally, and despite all our efforts to save her, it became clear it would be a mercy to end her life. I've always heard that CO2 poisoning is like falling asleep and never waking up, so I determined to look into ending her life that way... just a gentle final nap.

We ended up opening up the garage and turning on the car, then holding her head close to the exhaust. Thank goodness it worked, and she just drifted off with no distress or struggling.

Make sure you open the garage door so you dont end up poisoning yourself in the process.