A delicate question....Someone please respond!

[chickenlittleton]

I have a 6 mth old poult....he's a lone survivor of three we started with. He's sick, not to mention one of his legs is mangled from being broken. He is nearly immobile. I have him isolated in his own pen. I'm feeding him a diet of organic corn, oats, yogurt and scrambled eggs with glucosamine & condroitan mixed in. He has a healthy appetite, but he's losing his feathers from crashing each time he tries to pick himself up on one leg. He tires himself out and does a nose dive. He's vocal and responsive when I come in to visit. I bath him every few days, he's constantly sitting in his own fecal matter. I pick him up and put him in the sun to warm his bones, then tuck him in at night in a shelter with a heat source.

My heart tells me this not a quality life for him. He's so darn sweet, and the thought of putting him down brings tears to my eyes. My question: Is there a COMPLETELY humane way to euthanize him? Please be honest, I will consider any and all suggestions.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Threehorses posted the best way for chickens. It would be the same for turkeys, I'd presume.

Let me see if I can find it.

 

[Lu King]

I'm a fairly newbie on turkeys...still learning.

I hate to put down anything. Is there anyway you can put a splint on his leg? I don't know if that would work or not, but I, personally, would give it a try.

Good luck on whatever you decide to do.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

img/smilies/hugs.gif" alt="hugs" />">https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=215642

 

[longranger]

Short answer is no. If expense is no object and you have a mobile vet that will come to you that is the closest to painless for you and your bird as you will get. Next in line is a friend with experience butchering. The "normal" process done correctly is pretty darn humane but is still upsetting to watch. Last considertation is will the bird get a pets burial or be equally respected by being invited to dinner. Can't do that if the bird is full of chemicals.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

I assume the leg is no longer broken, but has healed in a mangled fashion. Is this correct?

 

[Eggs4Sale]

There's also this link, check the post on page 3 from threehorses (it has a link in it, as well):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=219306

 

[chickenlittleton]

Thank-you all for your replies. His leg has healed in a mangled fashion. Toes are twisted and the bend is bulbous (No actual broken bones, but the leg is rendered useless nonetheless). If I could figure out a way to splint his leg, I would. Any suggestions on how to piece one together? :

 

[chickenlittleton]

I am going to look around my garage to see if I can render some sort of apparatus with wood splints. I'll post a picture when I get this figured out.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

At the top of this page, there's the word 'search' in the blue bar. Click that, type in 'leg splint' for keyword, and I'm sure you'll find something. It would really help if you posted a photo of the chicken, and another photo of the leg from a few different angles so we could see if a splint would help.