Whats the most humane way to kill a chicken?

[littlebluechick]

First of all, these answers are not humane, and are not Backyard Chicken appropriate answers in my opinion. Most people don't ask how to humanely put down their chicken if they are farmers. And everyone knows how to google procedures for snapping a chickens neck. And suggesting that a "man" do it is insulting and rediculous. I believe that any intelligent person wouldn't go ahead and hack off the neck of their pet chicken especially if they never did this before! I suggest you call your local vet to euthinize your hen. After all, wouldn't you do the same for your pet dog or cat?

 

[jvls1942]

It is ridiculous to have a vet kill the chicken.
then you cannot eat it with whatever he injects into it.. and besides, if you are processing a hundred chickens it becomes quite expensive to have a vet kill them all..

 

[VyeFye]

First of all, these answers are not humane, and are not Backyard Chicken appropriate answers in my opinion. Most people don't ask how to humanely put down their chicken if they are farmers. And everyone knows how to google procedures for snapping a chickens neck. And suggesting that a "man" do it is insulting and rediculous. I believe that any intelligent person wouldn't go ahead and hack off the neck of their pet chicken especially if they never did this before! I suggest you call your local vet to euthinize your hen. After all, wouldn't you do the same for your pet dog or cat?

Most vets will not see poultry. I just went to an emergency vet yesterday for my cat and when I asked they told me they don't see chickens at all. Even in the Chicken Chick's book she talks about humanely dispatching birds. I understand your point, but I think most of these people are trying to find the best available method. Most do not have poultry veterinary access.

 

[Birdinhand]

you know, having gotten into having pet rats and pet snakes, and searching for a humane way to dispatch feeder rats that are produced by breeding our pet rats, for my snakes, I have stumbled upon the use of Co2 for euthenization and I think that for some, this may be the best option for putting pet chickens down. After 4 years of buying frozen rats from petco, it dawned on me that I could give the rats a better life and probably a better death than the one's I buy, if I bread them and raised them myself (similar thinking for our meat birds). you can make co2 with vinegar and baking soda, but I have decided that that results in a pretty noxious gas that can't be all that pleasant for the critter. the best alternative, which I think is worth having around for the urban farmer, is a threaded co2 cartridge, a bike tire fill nozzle and the nipple off of a bike tire. This allows one to control the flow of co2 into either a small container or a plastic bag. placing the chicken in a small container or putting a bag over it's head and filling it with Co2 is likely the fastest and painless way to put a chicken down. with the rats I grow, they are out in 1 second, I have not tried it on a chicken but I can imagine it's the same for chickens. for a beloved pet chicken, it's probably the best way. thoughts?

 

[SomeChickinTN]

I agree with the posters who say it's more about the owner than the chicken. I'm in the camp of "idk if I could do it", but I've been thinking about it since I read through this thread last night. It comes down to some form of guilt.

I'm positive that if my family was starving, I could dispatch chickens without second thought. The hesitation comes from choice. "I don't HAVE to kill this chicken. I COULD go to the store and just buy one of those poor chickens".

But for me, that defeats the purpose of having chickens in the first place. I got them because I want my family to know where their food comes from. And to stop supporting chickens piled on top of each other, among other things.

So I guess those of us who are hesitant need to ask ourselves... Would you rather eat the chicken from the store that's probably had a horrible life, just because someone already killed it (with a lot of suffering), or would you rather eat the chicken that's had the best life possible?

 

[Mosey2003]

I would not use CO2 for a chicken. I much prefer cervical dislocation to any other method. How many are going to go out and gather the supplies needed and set up a container for the CO2 to work, and work properly, before they'll need it? Very few. Yet, everyone has a broomstick or similar.

 

[jvls1942]

face it, there is no way to humanely kill..
co2 suffocates.. granted, it is quick, but it is still suffocation..
each one of us has to choose the method that is most non offensive for ourselves..
I choose bleeding. cut an artery in the neck and the chicken has no indication that it is dying. I imagine that there might be a little pain with the incision. but there is no way of measuring that.. but the hundreds/thousands of chickens I have killed were all very calm and they die is less than a minute..

 

[RoosterML]

So I did my first ever batch of meat birds this fall. 25 to be exact. I had viewed as much info as I could in culling a chicken humanely. In the end I went with the good old Axe and log/stump. I have read alot of people complain about the chicken running around wild after decapitation. No need to let that happen. Set your self up cones (road cones or make your own cone) right next to the side your holding the chicken on, also at a comfortable height so your just basically leaning back after the chop and dropping the chicken down into the cone. Head down so they bleed out into your bucket under the cone. Works great no blood on you or all over the place. Also holds the birds snug so it's not flapping everywhere. I may try the killing cone method in the future but if I do it would only be using a utlity knife with a nice new blade or a box cutter.
I think in the end everyone will do the best they can using the method that works for them. And yes we are all bound to have a screw up from time to time. I personally do not like the tree lopper idea but if you do I think one should use two blades crossing each other and not the ones with one blade sharp against a flat plate. Again just my 2 cents.

 

[annageckos]

I've used CO2 for rats too, but it needs to be done right or can cause panic. You need to introduce it very very slowly then after the animal passes out you can flood the chamber. I wouldn't do it for food animals, you'd be going through a lot of CO2 and there are faster, less finicky ways. About bleeding out, I'd be very surprised if the animal had no idea it was dying. I'm sure they can feel it, but I'd say it is nearly painless. My boyfriend has nearly bleed to death, he said he got very weak and knew what was going on but couldn't make himself care. It was peaceful in a way. I have never bled like that, but I have had my blood glucose drop dangerously low and what he describes sounds a lot like what I've gone through. Weakness, feel like you are floating, don't care about what is going on around you. You know what is happening but it is hard to move and calm sets in. I know that chickens are not people, but I'd think they would feel the same basic things. Calm and tired then nothing.

 

[shedinator]

First of all, these answers are not humane, and are not Backyard Chicken appropriate answers in my opinion.

Some of the answers are pretty clearly meant as jokes, but most in this thread are definitely BYC appropriate, especially considering the question was asked in a meat bird forum.

I would disagree with your assertion that euthanasia is inherently more humane than several of the methods described here. But even if it were theoretically true, that's not going to be the answer given in the meat bird forum, because euthanized animals are inedible.