Non violent way to kill a chicken

I have had my sweet girl sick for a some time.. She was gettting better then took a turn for the worse..

I really need (notice i didnt say want) to put her out of her misery.

The thought of doing anything with removing or breaking just makes me sick to my stomach..

I think of more of a peacefull death..

would someone please make suggestions..

I really didnt want it to get to this point but she has gotten so bad..

(if someone can tell me where I could find a vein I do have syringes)

My husband has lortab pills too .. would morphine do it humainly..

I know this is not the most pleasant post. But we really have done everything we can possibly do, she is not good, and her life is not good. It has taken me weeks to get to this point. And it breaks my heart. Please be gentle.

If you really want to do it quickly and humanely, you gotta suck it up and use an axe. They don`t suffer at all. Just do it like you mean it. I know it`s hard to do. I still hate it after 52 years with fowl. To be humane, it has to be quick. If you own animals, you have to be responsible for what is best for them. I know you want to be or you wouldn`t have asked. I`m telling you this from experience.........Pop

I'm so sorry for your bird. It's a heartbreaking situation that many of us have found ourselves in quite unexpectedly.

I didn't have access to syringes and medications, so I can't speak for them. They may work wonderfully.

The best advice I got is what is easiest for the bird is often hardest on the owner. Quicker is better.

Be proud that you are a responsible keeper of your animals, and sometimes the most loving thing you can do is to end the suffering quickly.

I hope some others on here with more experience will chime in with their expertise.

Peaceful for you is not necessarily peaceful for her. The best "peaceful" way is to take her to a vet. The vet has a solution that is MADE for euthanasia, and the skill to put it straight into a vein, quickly, without fumbling. Unconscious in a second or two, dead in ANOTHER second or two.

Just because you have a syringe doesn't mean you can get a vein quickly without fumbling. Even if you were a nurse your experience would be with humans, and animals would not be within your experience.

If the less peaceful (for you) routes turn your stomach then you are definitely NOT the person to do the job because you would fumble it and make it worse for you AND your hen. If you can't afford a vet then you need to find someone who can do the right thing with skill.

I am very sorry you have come to this problem. I've had pets and livestock for many many years, and I have never gotten used to putting things down. It's always hard.

That it is this hard for you tells me your heart is in the right place, my sister.

I'm so sorry this is happening to you. I've gone through this twice with one hen first, then several of them getting severely ill with a coccidiosis outbreak. In both cases, they went down "quickly enough" where I didn't end up having to resort to "doing the deed" myself, but I did do some research.

Some people suggest a method that uses baking soda and vinegar to make a Carbon Dioxide "gas chamber", but one poster on here said that they had done it and that the bird panicked with the smell of the vinegar (or something) and it was NOT PRETTY.

However, I did get a suggested variation on this from a veterinarian I know. It's the "gas chamber" idea but using Carbon MONOXIDE instead. Of course you need to be careful with this as Carbon Monoxide is deadly.

You could rig a large Rubbermaid container with a lid and a large pipe/tube going into it, and tie the tube in with your car exhaust. It will smell a little funny to them, but they will go to SLEEP quickly and in a non-violent manner (shouldn't thrash, etc.). Carbon Monoxide can knock you out at pretty low levels - we had a leak once at my lab and one of my co-workers was just walking down the hall and passed out!!! The rest of us in the office/lab had headaches and were just plain sleepy. They evacuated the building and we got to go home for the day.

IF YOU DO THIS - Make sure the container is out in an open area so YOU can get to it without being in an enclosed space with the Carbon Monoxide. Also, after she passes out, you need to keep the car running and the Carbon Monoxide levels up for a good period of time, at least 15-20 minutes, to make sure she is DEAD. Otherwise when you open up the chamber, she may revive on you!!!

My vet buddy is traveling and I can't get in touch with him right now to confirm the times, but I would say the longer the better. You don't burn much gas at an idle, so I'd let the car sit and run for 20 minutes or more.

Make sure that whatever you tie into the exhaust is not going to melt or catch on fire - a piece of laundry dryer foil/metal tubing would be good, or just connecting directly onto the car exhaust with some heavy duty aluminum foil held on with a piece of wire might work. You need a tube big enough for the air flow (basically similar in size to the exhaust pipe) and your Rubbermaid container needs to be fairly well sealed so that the Carbon Monoxide doesn't all leak out quickly. It's about the same density as air so it won't really "rise" or "sink" significantly in the box, but it will "leak".

After the 20 minute+ time frame, turn off the car and just leave the whole setup alone for a while so everything will cool off (tailpipe) and give some time for the box to leak out some of the Carbon Monoxide, I'd say at least 1/2 hour. This puts your total chicken exposure at close to an hour. Again, this is all to be done in an OUTSIDE/OPEN area, not in your garage!!!!!! When you are ready to open the box, open it and again walk away for a while - you really don't want to get a big whiff of this stuff yourself.

If you start feeling a headache or dizziness at any time, you are probably being exposed yourself. Your chicken might already be passed out or dead, but MOST IMPORTANT is that YOU are not doing the same!!!

My husband and I did learn to process roosters, so we HAVE cut the head off a living bird, so if we ever have to do this (put one out of her misery) we can do it without the "gas chamber".

If you do decide to try this option, plan it out carefully and BE SAFE.

DISCLAIMER - This method DOES produce a toxic gas that can kill a chicken OR another pet or a human being. It must be done with some basic safety care to avoid injury or death. I am not a professional chicken-gas-chamber-administrator, nor do I play one on TV, and I have also not stayed at a Holiday Inn Express for a while... I've never actually used this method, either, but I have been assured by a veterinarian that it is "peaceful". Based on my personal experience at my old lab, I would have to agree - the guy walking down the hall passed out pretty peacefully...

I was wondering if a "gas chamber" that utilized dry ice would work for this purpose, too.

(((((((((((((((((((OP)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Quote:
Dry ice is Carbon Dioxide. I THINK it would work, would certainly not fizz and smell like the baking soda/vinegar, BUT Carbon Dioxide does do different things in a biological system than Carbon Monoxide.

When the CO2 levels get high in your body, you get the urge to breathe in order to get rid of it. It's part of basic animal respiration. So I can only imagine that if you were in an environment with high CO2 levels that it could cause a burning sensation on your lungs (CO2 + H2O makes carbonic acid, a weak acid) and also a sense that I NEED TO BREATHE OH GOSH I GOTTA BREATHE WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING I NEED TO BREATHE and a panicking sensation.

When I was a teenager I used to hang out at a skating rink. One day some of the boys were goofing off and trying to hyperventilate to make themselves pass out. If you hyperventilate, you get rid of your CO2 and fool your body into thinking that it doesn't URGENTLY need to breathe. Then you can hold your breath for a while longer until your Oxygen is depleted and you can pass out. If you just try to hold your breath WITHOUT hyperventilating first, you can generally not make yourself pass out, as your CO2 levels are still building to the point where they MAKE YOU breathe.

Carbon Monoxide, on the other hand, latches onto the red blood cells more strongly than Oxygen, which basically leaves you short on Oxygen (without giving you the I GOTTA BREATHE panic that you get with increased Carbon DIOXIDE). The Monoxide would thus have the same effect of suffocation but without the "panic" that comes from the CO2 levels being high.

Logically, the dry ice method would probably result in a panic sensation similar to the baking soda/vinegar scenario.

DISCLAIMER - I have never used either of these methods, I am not a physician but I am a chemist and have taken some biology and biochemistry. And I did watch some silly kids at a skating rink make themselves pass out...

My vote is for the vet to euthanize.
Shouldn't cost much for a couple cc's of phenobarb.
Ask her to use a leg vein tho' vs a wing vein........they collapse too easily, making the administration
of the drug ineffective, and the need to stick and then restick the poor bird.
It is 'the' most peaceful death......................
Sorry you're going thru this.

I initially tried the CO2 route when I was faced with this issue.

I think it works well on hatchlings and young chicks, but a larger bird will try to flap around and hop out.

I had a knife ready in case I fumbled the CO2, which sadly I did. Next time, I will go to a vet, or call a neighbor.