Benadryl to Euthanize Chicken?

[lizo97]

True, though it's really important to ask how they will do it. I have read that some vets use a "heartstick" method that is painful and not all that fast.

I took a chicken to the vet and they said they were going to use a gas overdose and that I couldn't be in the room when they did it. While the vet seemed nice, I have always regretted not seeing exactly how the chicken was put down and worried that maybe they didn't do what they said they would.

I am gripped with anxiety about euthanasia because I'm always so scared that I will mess up and cause the animal more suffering. At this point, though, I have watched my dad use a hatchet to decapitate two of my beloved chickens when they were terminally ill, and I think the next time I will attempt on my own.

Agree with everyone who says that the fastest method is best. I know it seems "nicer" to do something bloodless like an overdose or whatever, but the "nasty" method of beheading/cervical dislocation/quick bleedout are more humane.

I do remember someone talking about a carbon dioxide box system that is humane but just takes a very long time.

My vet gases them, until they are unconscious, then she sticks the heart.

 

[Anon112]

My vet gases them, until they are unconscious, then she sticks the heart.

I've read mixed things about heart sticks, and I worry that they might not actually be fully unconscious.

Just for me personally, I think I prefer decapitation. I know at this point that if done right, it's at most about 40 seconds for the hen and it can be done in my backyard, so no stress of a car ride, strange environment, etc.

But I can definitely appreciate wanting to do something less bloody, with a professional, and that doesn't require as much physical strength/coordination.

 

[dawg53]

How do you hold the head still?

I put the bird in a pre-dug hole in the ground, then shoot it with my .22, quick and easy.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I put the bird in a pre-dug hole in the ground, then shoot it with my .22, quick and easy.

You bury the whole bird in a hole with just the head out?

 

[dawg53]

You bury the whole bird in a hole with just the head out?

Yep, head shot with the .22.
The bird flops around in the hole abit, then stops. Then start shoveling dirt in the hole.

Sorry @BigBlueHen53
I misread your question. No, I dont bury the bird first, then shoot the bird in the head.

I simply put the bird in the hole I dug, then shoot it in the head. When it stops flopping around in the hole, that's when I shovel the dirt and fill the hole.

 

[arazla]

This discussion is so heartbreaking. Not only do you have to try to be accurate with decapitation or neck breaking, you have to live with the image and experience. Call them farm animals or not, but if this is your pet, or you have any sort of close connection with them, it potentially adds a whole other layer of trauma. Imagine ringing your cats neck with your own hands because you can't afford the vet bill?

There really should be more advocacy for humane, affordable, at home euthanasia. All that being said, in answer to the original poster about using meds at home, I did in fact opt for trying something once and it was successful. It was a very sick turkey with heart problems I inherited from the neighbor. She was literally at death's door. I think I gave her 3 hydrocodones left over from a dental thing. I can't say whether she suffered or not, but she was definitely dead in the morning. Already cold and stiff, so it must have happened fairly soon after administration. She was on her back though, so that may mean she did have spasms first. I don't know how often birds die and flop on their back since I've only found 3 dead birds in my 3 years keeping chickens as an adult. Two were neglected turkeys from my neighbor (the other turkey died facing down) and one leghorn mix I had keeled over and flopped on his back, cause unknown.

 

[davemonkey]

I gave her 3 hydrocodones left over from a dental thing.

In all seriousness, the cervical dislocation, as traumatizing as it may be to "us", is going to be the quickest and most humane way to dispatch a bird. And it's not like "I" (or you) have to do it. I would wager in most friend circles, there is always "that one guy" would eagerly provide this service.

 

[SkyAJK]

Give your feather dear birds a good life, and a quick and painless dead. Don't mess around with it - do it yourself, someone else help or at the Vet

The final act of love and kindness to your chickens is a quick and painless dead.

Remember they spend their life pooped breafkast, provide therapy and good exercises for their human. Give them the final act of love and kindness.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

This discussion is so heartbreaking. Not only do you have to try to be accurate with decapitation or neck breaking, you have to live with the image and experience.

It is heartbreaking and also necessary. If people are going to own livestock (or "petstock" as some of us say), people need to be able to plan for humane culling (as much as I love my hens, I'm not taking them to the vet.)

The killing cone/tree lopper method that @coach723 linked to earlier in the thread is what I have used and will continue to use. It is fast, hands-off, and there's no "accuracy" needed (as long as the loppers are positioned around the chicken's neck). It is pretty fail-proof. Is the image painful? Yes. Is it more painful than the image of a sick animal suffering needlessly? No.

I take solace in knowing that I gave the hen the best life possible and did what I needed to do when she had an incurable illness/injury. I believe it is irresponsible to raise chickens if you aren't also mentally prepared to end it's life (or have a plan for someone else to do it) quickly and humanely when necessary.

There really should be more advocacy for humane, affordable, at home euthanasia.

I think almost every experienced chicken-keeper in this forum advocates for humane, affordable, euthanasia at home. Cervical dislocation or decapitation are the most humane, affordable methods available in the at-home setting.

I think I gave her 3 hydrocodones left over from a dental thing. I can't say whether she suffered or not, but she was definitely dead in the morning.

I would argue that this method is riskier (in that it may or may not work), longer (who knows how long it took for the bird to die or if it was painful?), and far less "accurate", than decapitation. Did you spare yourself from the disturbing "image"? Yes, but as others have said, humane culling is not about making the human feel better, it's about what's best/most humane for the animal.

 

[arazla]

I read a LOT of research first on the use of opiates for pain management in birds. The research seems to indicate strong analgesic effects. I did not see anything about risks of pain or tremors first until I came upon this thread and another one today specifically amongst farmers.

Are the other methods fail proof? I read in another thread that someone accidentally CHOPPED into their hand while trying the decapitation method. That sounds like something I might do to be honest. Another vet video I watched, while advocating for this method, indicated it can still go wrong if you don't get a particular tendon or something, I can't recall exactly, and that they may STILL be conscious for up to 45 seconds after the head is severed. I vividly recall watching a beheading of several roosters when I was young and it seemed like they were running around headless for eons...so yes, I did spare myself the image. I've lost plenty of animals before and not saying I would never ever do a beheading, but I didn't trust myself to do it with large turkey.

I'm relatively new to my area. I did ask one neighbor at the time who owns a shooting range and he declined to help. I have somewhat strained relations with the neighbors whose very many birds I've taken in, understandably, although I did ask about another one of his birds once that I thought might not make it and he didn't seem too interested.