BB gun to euthanize chicken ?

[Wickedchicken6]

Thank you for all the replies. One thing I forgot to mention, is that I have very poor vision, I’m legally blind. So long-distance is not really applicable. And I really don’t want to deal with all the blood of cutting the head off. But I do know that I could do point-blank range. But I want to make sure that the gun is strong enough. And I don’t know if BBs would do it. Maybe pellets would be better even at point-blank range compared to babies. And I would always have more than one shot ready, to me that’s just common sense when you have a gun.

I looked up our pellet gun, and ours shoot at a velocity of 450 feet per second. That's just a break barrel pellet gun, it doesn't use CO2 cartridges.

I looked up pistol BB guns here. They range anywhere from 400 fps to near 500 fps.

 

[BantyChooks]

Thank you for all the replies. One thing I forgot to mention, is that I have very poor vision, I’m legally blind. So long-distance is not really applicable. And I really don’t want to deal with all the blood of cutting the head off. But I do know that I could do point-blank range. But I want to make sure that the gun is strong enough. And I don’t know if BBs would do it. Maybe pellets would be better even at point-blank range compared to babies. And I would always have more than one shot ready, to me that’s just common sense when you have a gun.

Sorry...

I also would suggest cervical dislocation, just as a thought. I am not a strongman but I am still able to do it. No blood, no mess, and very quick.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

a .177 is just a calibre size ...these things can shoot up to 1250 feet per second .. which is a pretty mean punch ... a .22 on the other hand gives a little more punch ... here they don't sell anything over 1050 fps so that's what i had ..anything higher you need a gun licence ... quickest way to over come that is by changing shells ... i always kept some ultra sonic pellets at hand ... (red plastic body with a hard sharpened steel tip) .. i could put a hole right through a steel drum at about 8 meters ... i could take down guinea fowl with it ...standards pellets would just bounce off them ...

bb guns have a round balls that dont penetrate well .. and the ones i used as a kid .. Daisy .... only had a max mussel velocity of about 200 -300 fps ... i may be wrong , things could have change a bit over the past 30 years.

Lol...yes I'm aware that .177 is the calibre size. That's why I was mentioning this specifically to make the point that I'm not using something like .22. It's a basic pellet rifle and it's successful. I mentioned in a previous post that our gun is only rated at 450 fps. I may be using it to put down a rooster this afternoon.

 

[pitbullmomma]

Thank you for all the replies. One thing I forgot to mention, is that I have very poor vision, I’m legally blind.

Another good reason why a BB gun is not a good idea...

 

[Smuvers Farm]

If you mess around with a bb gun, you may go from legally blind to eyeless!

Look up cervical dislocation videos on Youtube..... quick, no bullets, no pellets, no blood, can be done with literally NOTHING.....

 

[RodNTN]

I don't believe that a BB gun would do the job Just my thoughts.

 

[Leigti]

I have heard so many stories where cervical dislocation goes very wrong. The broomstick method videos I’ve seen always takes the head off. I would be much more willing to try the broomstick method than the other ways to dislocate. A couple people have told me it just takes practice, this is not something I am going to practice. I’ve had chickens for three years and only have to do this one so far. I know I’ve been lucky.

 

[lazy gardener]

Broom stick method would work well for OP. It is quick, it is easy. It is bloodless, unless you pull too hard, and it would be very difficult to do it wrong.

Agreed, BB would not do the job. Well placed pellet, maybe, but .22 would be my choice of lead.

 

[Mary's Backyard Chickens]

It truly would be more humane for the chicken if you dispatched it in another way. Although this method may be easier for you, that's not easier on the chicken... who is the one we're worried about. If you, personally, cannot do the cutting, is there someone else who can? Any method that *might* require another *shot* is not a good method in my opinion.

No judgement, just a statement.

I agree. A fast, humane way to kill a chicken is simply cut it's head off. I know, it can be hard to bring yourself to do, but BBs aren't powerful enough, and you may have to shot multiple times in the same area to get it to be dead. This will be a slow, painful killing process. It's like slowly torturing a chicken. Just slicing it's head off is fine, it's fast and it's humane and non-painful.

 

[Paula Cook]

Hi Leigti!
I'm so sorry to hear about your chicken and the situation you are faced with.

I have used our pellet gun to put down a chicken. It is effective so I would think that a BB gun would also be as effective. We use metal pellets with our gun.

*Contains graphic depiction for those who may not wish to read the following.

The best way I've found to dispatch the majority of birds and animals with a gun; a pellet to a .22 rifle...is to place the gun at the base of the skull at the back of the head and have the pellet/bullet pointed high enough into the skull that it's close to eye level or in that area. It seems to be the quickest method resulting in the least action and blood from the animal/bird from any method I've used. The bullet/pellet severs the spinal cord and they may spread their wings out/jerk slightly/move their legs and it's done quite quickly. The only thing you don't want to do is not have the BB pointed too low so it aims at the bottom of the face or jaw. The pellet to the brain kills them very quickly so they won't be feeling anything. The movement is the resulting nerves.

This is by far my prefered method. It's nice because they can be resting and not expect anything. It's also nice that you don't have to look them in the face. I also find that having to point at the head from the face produces more blood.

Just make sure you have extra BBs on hand in case it does require another BB if the placement wasn't quite perfect.

I hope this wasn't too graphic of an explanation for you...but I wanted to be thorough to prepare you for what to expect.

Please know that if she is sick enough that you feel it necessary to put her down...that you are being very kind in not letting her suffer. This is very commendable. I'm so sorry that you have to go through this.

I'm so sorry you are losing your chicken. You might want to check out an article written by Dr. Mike Petrik on the most humane and recommended ways of dispatching chickens and rabbits. He explains exactly how each way physically works. Here is the link to the article. I hope this helps you with your decision. https://the-chicken-chick.com/how-to-humanely-euthanize-chicken-by-dr/