So, I've never killed a chicken before tonight.
One of my chickens, Lunch, was attacked by a fox two weeks ago. Since then I have been caring for her and trying to make her better. I was able to put one dislocated hip back into position, but she was still not able to put any weight on that leg. Her other leg, she was able to put some weight on it, but she would only put weight on it if she had it too far out in front of her, so she couldn't balance herself to stand, as it if pained her to put it in the normal position, and she would not squat on it as if to roost. She also had one wing that was not working right. I tried and tried to see if she had any broken bones, but I was not able to feel any. And bringing her to a vet was financially impossible.
I feel awful because, until today, she was drinking and eating fine and her puncture wounds were healing, or at least seemed to be, however I found a little beetle thing on her tonight right by the scab of her largest wound on her breast. I squashed the beetle. It freaked me out.
I tried putting her in a sling that I rigged inside a cat condo cage, but she would always list to the left and would keep swinging her right leg forward until she caught her foot on the front of the cage and her left foot (of the leg that had been dislocated) would just dangle, though it was in a more proper position and she was now able to move it, but would not put any weight on it. I can't even tell how how many times I readjusted the sling and tried different heights and positions because, for the last couple of days, she kept escaping from the sling. I even rigged the sling so that her feet would be in a small storage box, thinking that I might be able to get her in a more comfortable position, but that didn't work either as she got a hold of the front of the box and wiggled and squirmed until she flopped out of it backwards and landed in a half sitting position, stuck in place between the sling and the back of the box. I tried laying her in a short-sided box in hopes that that would ease any discomfort, but she just wasn't comfortable and would flop around on her side.
Then, tonight, after her flinging herself out of her sling four times and out of the sling/box and after having not eaten or drunk anything today I just felt defeated. She wasn't comfortable, I couldn't make her comfortable, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, she had stopped eating and drinking and then she had that beetle on her. I decided that I was just keeping her alive to just keep her in pain and figured she would probably never be able to be her old self again. I grabbed one of my husbands thick leather gloves, picked Lunch up and walked into the back yard holding her with my left hand and arm. Then I grabbed her head with my right hand, dropped her out of my left arm, swung her around to break her neck, and tossed her into the woods, turned around and walked back into my house. I assume the fox, or something else will come and get her sometime tonight.
I was truly dreading doing that to her. As I said, I had never done anything like this before. But I figured she was only going to suffer and die a slow, painful death. I decided that it would be best to get it over quickly for both her and I. It was actually not as horrible as I thought it would be, which, in a way, makes it worse! I think I might have broken her neck when I dropped her as she didn't make a sound and seemed to go limp, but I didn't hesitate to swing her around, toss her and walk away. I feel very cold-blooded for all that, but I just couldn't hesitate or dwell on what I was doing and had to just get it done and go.
You're probably horrified that I just threw her into the woods, but what else was I going to do? Bury her? I live in the Granite State and digging anywhere without hitting huge rocks is practically impossible. I certainly wasn't going to make soup out of her since she had that beetle on her. Lord knows what kind of larva was developing under that scab where I found it. Putting her in the trash seemed extremely disrespectful, besides, we'd have to wait a week to go to the dump. So, at a loss for what else I could do, I tossed her into the woods. That doesn't feel much better than putting her in the trash, but it's a smidge higher up on the killing-your-chicken moral ladder, I suppose.
Anyway, I'm now sitting down writing this and drinking a beer to try to relax. I hope I haven't horrified anyone too badly and I hope I did the right thing for Lunch.
Jenn
One of my chickens, Lunch, was attacked by a fox two weeks ago. Since then I have been caring for her and trying to make her better. I was able to put one dislocated hip back into position, but she was still not able to put any weight on that leg. Her other leg, she was able to put some weight on it, but she would only put weight on it if she had it too far out in front of her, so she couldn't balance herself to stand, as it if pained her to put it in the normal position, and she would not squat on it as if to roost. She also had one wing that was not working right. I tried and tried to see if she had any broken bones, but I was not able to feel any. And bringing her to a vet was financially impossible.
I feel awful because, until today, she was drinking and eating fine and her puncture wounds were healing, or at least seemed to be, however I found a little beetle thing on her tonight right by the scab of her largest wound on her breast. I squashed the beetle. It freaked me out.
I tried putting her in a sling that I rigged inside a cat condo cage, but she would always list to the left and would keep swinging her right leg forward until she caught her foot on the front of the cage and her left foot (of the leg that had been dislocated) would just dangle, though it was in a more proper position and she was now able to move it, but would not put any weight on it. I can't even tell how how many times I readjusted the sling and tried different heights and positions because, for the last couple of days, she kept escaping from the sling. I even rigged the sling so that her feet would be in a small storage box, thinking that I might be able to get her in a more comfortable position, but that didn't work either as she got a hold of the front of the box and wiggled and squirmed until she flopped out of it backwards and landed in a half sitting position, stuck in place between the sling and the back of the box. I tried laying her in a short-sided box in hopes that that would ease any discomfort, but she just wasn't comfortable and would flop around on her side.
Then, tonight, after her flinging herself out of her sling four times and out of the sling/box and after having not eaten or drunk anything today I just felt defeated. She wasn't comfortable, I couldn't make her comfortable, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, she had stopped eating and drinking and then she had that beetle on her. I decided that I was just keeping her alive to just keep her in pain and figured she would probably never be able to be her old self again. I grabbed one of my husbands thick leather gloves, picked Lunch up and walked into the back yard holding her with my left hand and arm. Then I grabbed her head with my right hand, dropped her out of my left arm, swung her around to break her neck, and tossed her into the woods, turned around and walked back into my house. I assume the fox, or something else will come and get her sometime tonight.
I was truly dreading doing that to her. As I said, I had never done anything like this before. But I figured she was only going to suffer and die a slow, painful death. I decided that it would be best to get it over quickly for both her and I. It was actually not as horrible as I thought it would be, which, in a way, makes it worse! I think I might have broken her neck when I dropped her as she didn't make a sound and seemed to go limp, but I didn't hesitate to swing her around, toss her and walk away. I feel very cold-blooded for all that, but I just couldn't hesitate or dwell on what I was doing and had to just get it done and go.
You're probably horrified that I just threw her into the woods, but what else was I going to do? Bury her? I live in the Granite State and digging anywhere without hitting huge rocks is practically impossible. I certainly wasn't going to make soup out of her since she had that beetle on her. Lord knows what kind of larva was developing under that scab where I found it. Putting her in the trash seemed extremely disrespectful, besides, we'd have to wait a week to go to the dump. So, at a loss for what else I could do, I tossed her into the woods. That doesn't feel much better than putting her in the trash, but it's a smidge higher up on the killing-your-chicken moral ladder, I suppose.
Anyway, I'm now sitting down writing this and drinking a beer to try to relax. I hope I haven't horrified anyone too badly and I hope I did the right thing for Lunch.
Jenn
