best way to euthanize a chicken?

[MyFirstFarm]

I am not sure if this is the right forum so please feel free to move it...and a warning: this is about euthanizing birds and some may find it graphic.

I'm planning on using some of our birds for meat. If we get mixed sex birds I'll want to cull some of the roosters. And then if any get sick and need to be culled...well, this has all got me thinking about how to "do the deed".

I used to work in a small animal lab and have had to euthanize many a rodent. I have never euthanized a bird, however. IME the most humane way is decapitation, especially for animals that were used to being handled. I was reading on another thread here about using CO2 or baking soda/vinegar to suffocate the bird. We tried using such a method and I have to say I didn't find it quick or humane. The animals panicked as they realized they couldn't breathe and the several seconds it takes for them to die was really too long, IMHO.

What is the preferred method for euthanizing a chicken? If I thought I could get the darn things to lay down sideways calmly I'd use an axe. I read in a "self sufficiency" type book about putting two nails into a stump and hooking the chicken's head there before axing but I find it hard to imagine the bird laying still for that. I've seen how they do it with chicken cones but that seems a complicated setup...is there a simpler way?

 

[Mahonri]

pull and snap the neck. quick.

 

[crazybarnlady]

there are lots of good threads here in the meat bird section- the main ways to kill an adult chicken are decapitating with an axe (or I've seen a few people reccommend pruning shears), cutting the throat while upside down in a cone, or pithing. I know, none seem very appealing when you've raised the chicken up from a chick.

I have some roosters that I'm doing right now, and have spent a lot of time in the meat bird section getting used to the idea. The cone helps because a chicken will calm when upside down. I made one out of an old elizabethan collar I had for my dog. Whichever way you choose, be aware that there will be a lot of nerve twitching after death. The stickies at the top of the meat bird section give very clear instructions, particularly Frugal's thread. If you search under pithing, there is a very good thread on that as well. It all boils down to what you are most comfortable with. Oh, by the way, the best way i've seen to hold a chicken's head on the block is to use a string loop just below the jaw, then the string end can be wrapped around a nail on the side of the block to hold the neck out. Good luck!

 

[juliawitt]

We found a butcher that will fix them up for 6 dollars a bird....I know, expensive and crazy, but they come home in white paper, all clean and done. I don't know which is which and I have no messy, unfortunate memories. I suppose I'm really too soft to be living out on the farm......but "Darn" I love my little chickie girls and I just can't imagine killing them.......

 

[rhoda_bruce]

before I put my plucker together, I am going to figure out a couple of killing cones, because I hang upside-down and bleed them, but sometimes they flap and it slaps my arm and I think it would be better if they are kept still. I'm not good with neck breaking and I don't like asking my father or husband to do more for me than necessary so bleeding is for me. Besides the meat is cleaner.

 

[patandchickens]

Browse the "Meat Birds Etc" section, this is discussed very extensively.

Best 3 suggestions I would offer, as your main things to choose from, would be:

- stump/nails/axe (pros: it works) (cons: you need a certain amount of determination and coordination, it is messy, and IME you get more and worse flapping than with other methods, or maybe it just SEEMS that way)

- stretch/break neck by hand (pro: very fast for the bird, no time for it to worry about what's up; requires zero coordination; little or no mess, depending on what you do about bleeding out the bird) (cons: for birds older than a couple months, requires strength [I can't swiftly break the neck of an older broiler or of a regular chicken more than 16ish wks old, although I am not exactly a bodybuilder], can be distressing to bird if you do not get it done straightaway)

- put bird in killing cone and slit throat (pro: very fast, little or no mess, requires no strength or coordination, no extra step necessary to control thrashing around) (cons: not quite *as* fast as breaking neck by hand)

I would suggest trying it all three ways (not at the same time obviously

) and seeing which one(s) suit you best.

There are other options, but they tend to require considerable skill to get them to work right reliably (debraining) or are very-arguably not nice for the bird (various forms of suffocation)

Good luck, bon appetit,

Pat

 

[scooter147]

I use the stump, nails and hatchet method. I found a wonderfull old hatchet at a farm auction about 10 years ago. What I love about this hatchet is it has a 8 inch blade. Since I found it I have not butchered a chicken since that I did not decapitate the head from the body in one swing. I take it to my local hardward store for a good sharpening before the 25 meaties I do each year head to freezer camp. They charge me a whopping $2 to do it.

 

[tnchickenut]

Quote:
I completely agree with that. I tried it for some disfigured chicks... once with ether, and once with baking soda/vinegar. It is not at all humane. Just less bloody... that doesn't make it humane at all... you were lucky it took you a couple seconds. The ether took about 15 minutes and the vinegar and baking soda method took about 20+. I pulled that chick out and ended up snapping it's neck. Should have just done that from the start.

Good luck with whatever method you choose.

 

[Mrs MIA]

The best way is whatever is quickest for the bird, and easiest for you to manage. We use killing cones, and slice the gugular first let them bleed out and stop twitching, then cut the heads off. But in cases where I've needed to cull an animal when my husband wasn't home to do it for me

I have used a very sharp hatchet (key is VERY sharp so it cuts first whack) and the two-nails-in-the-stump method. If you have the nails spaced close enough that the neck slides in but the head is too big to pull through the nails, you can apply a little pulling pressure to keep them still. But amazingly they lie pretty still once their head is in position.
Please understand that it still gives me tummy-flops to even write about this stuff, even after probably dispatching over 1000 birds to date... it's never easy on the heart. But make sure your equipment is sharp and clean, and taking off the head quickly is probably the most humane way to do it if you have to.

 

[MyFirstFarm]

Thanks, everyone. I'll go peruse the meat forum and continue this discussion there.