Benadryl to Euthanize Chicken?

[SourRoses]

I once tried to euthanize a very ill rooster with opioid medication. It's a lot stronger than Benadryl. I started with 4 pills, when that had no effect gave him 4 more. In the end the whole bottle was in him and his crop stuffed with the yummy treats it was hidden in. Nada, he wasn't even sleepy. It didn't seem to help with the pain of his condition either.
Moral of the story... birds process medicines differently than mammals do. There are not even any recommended pain relievers for chickens.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

The crop is pretty much just a storage area. Digestion begins in the gizzard.

 

[Eggcessive]

You need to learn how to put a chicken down who is suffering if you own them. It is never easy, but necessary when you own chickens. I hold them and put their legs in loops of twine nailed to a tree and gently hang them upside down. You can also use a killing cone, but this being upside down tends to calm them. Then take a very sharp knife and cut the jugular veins on either side of the neck. I then hold them still, let the blood drain into a bucket and they are dead with in a minutes of two. It is a quick humane way to put them down. I learned this method from an older video online of a man who humanely killed chickens for butchering. He did it in a kind way. Another quicker method used by some is removing the head completely with garden loppers or a sharp hatchet. I have tried the cervical dislocation or broomstick method and those didn’t work for me.

 

[dawg53]

A .22 bullet to the head is quickest, easiest, and painless.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I don't like the jugular method as it does take more time to bleed out. I am afraid that I might mess up the CD.

It usually takes between 1½ - 3 minutes for a chicken to bleed out. So it's not exactly that long.
Cervical Dislocation method/broomstick method does take alittle practice. I've messed up on it a couple times in the past, but now have mastered it.

 

[MysteryChicken]

A .22 bullet to the head is quickest, easiest, and painless.

We mainly use this method for turkeys.

 

[coach723]

This is a good article, and how I do it.
It's a necessary thing to know how to do, sadly. No one likes it, but it eventually is necessary. Humane means for the bird, not for the human doing it. This method is pretty goof-proof.
https://www.muranochickenfarm.com/2017/06/the-easiest-way-to-cull-chicken.html

 

[SourRoses]

take a very sharp knife and cut the jugular veins on either side of the neck.

This method should always come with a disclaimer to use cut-proof gloves for newbies.

I tried this method for our first attempt and ended up slashing my own tendon on my thumb.
Granted, you may not anticipate such a level of incompetence, but we are out there lol... and even in skilled hands accidents can happen.
The surgeon said it was so thin in that area of the thumb that he couldn't fix it a second time so I had to have it fully immobilized up the arm for ten weeks and partially immobilized after that. Months of physical therapy to stretch it out and get it working again. It's my dominant thumb and impacts my ability to perform certain tasks quickly... such as opening snaps on the chicken gates.

After my accident people on here asked me "why weren't you wearing gloves?" and I was like "what gloves?" None of the guides that I had studied suggested it.

All of the nurses, doctors, and different physical therapists asked how I managed to perform this doozy and seemed rather appalled that I would try to kill a chicken. Oy.

The crop is pretty much just a storage area. Digestion begins in the gizzard.

Umm, was this directed towards what I wrote above it?
If so, I didn't mention that it was 8 hours before we finally tried the broomstick on him. It was our first attempt with that, and my arm was still casted, so my mom and I worked together and he just wouldn't die (no flapping, just stillness, and then I would see one of his eyes twitch). The poor, poor little roo. We had studied everything we could and watched the videos... but they leave out details of technique and well, some things you just have to learn by doing.
I'm totally scared to cull anything now. But my mom has gotten quite good at it (broomstick) so I just catch them for her and go hide.

 

[DawnLee]

I once tried to euthanize a very ill rooster with opioid medication. It's a lot stronger than Benadryl. I started with 4 pills, when that had no effect gave him 4 more. In the end the whole bottle was in him and his crop stuffed with the yummy treats it was hidden in. Nada, he wasn't even sleepy. It didn't seem to help with the pain of his condition either.
Moral of the story... birds process medicines differently than mammals do. There are not even any recommended pain relievers for chickens.

Thank you for your feedback.

 

[DawnLee]

You need to learn how to put a chicken down who is suffering if you own them. It is never easy, but necessary when you own chickens. I hold them and put their legs in loops of twine nailed to a tree and gently hang them upside down. You can also use a killing cone, but this being upside down tends to calm them. Then take a very sharp knife and cut the jugular veins on either side of the neck. I then hold them still, let the blood drain into a bucket and they are dead with in a minutes of two. It is a quick humane way to put them down. I learned this method from an older video online of a man who humanely killed chickens for butchering. He did it in a kind way. Another quicker method used by some is removing the head completely with garden loppers or a sharp hatchet. I have tried the cervical dislocation or broomstick method and those didn’t work for me.

He his lame from painful legs. I am trying to find a way that I don't have to pull on his legs.