Culled my first chick today.....

[Egg_newton]

Our last hatch went very, very badly. Out of 80 eggs only three hatched. We were trying a new bator and had lots of trouble with temps and humidity. I had to help this little guy out of his shell. It was the 25th day and had heard him peeping in there for days. One of his feet, one of his hips, and I think one of his wings were deformed. His toes were curled, it was like his leg was on sideways, and his poor little little wing was always sticking out. I tried everything I knew how to do. I put a band-aide on his foot to try and straighten out his toes and wrap vet around his body to try and hold his leg is the right position, gave him poly-vi-sol, hand fed him a chick starter gruel... I have helped out two other chicks and they both ended up just fine but this poor little one didn't have a chance. He just wasn't getting any better and was developing sores on his legs from not being able to stand up at all. I feel so sad.

 

[gumpsgirl]

That is the part of incubating that I absolutely hate.

I'm so sorry you had to do that.

 

[Megs]

im sorry to hear that

i personally culled my first chick 2 days ago, also from hatching with a deformity, it sucked

usually my OH does it for me, but i always feel bad making him do it and he was at work, i didnt want the baby to suffer on account of me being to scared to do it, so i sucked it up.

 

[lizzy06019]

so sorry to hear about your little one

 

[ChickenCrazedMoma]

That is so sad.

I am so sorry that you had to go through that,and I hope that you feel better real soon!

 

[bock]

It is ok, now it will be much happier.

 

[Egg_newton]

I was going to ask my bf to do it but I wanted to know for sure that it was as quick and painless as it could possibly be. He is a hunter and is used to taking lives. But we have two totally different views on the chickens. He sees them as food and I see them as living breathing creatures. I've culled a couple cornish crosses for meat and even though I didn't like that at all, this was totally different. This is a little baby that I held in my hands and cuddled to my neck so it wouldn't be lonely or scared. I didn't want to put it with the other chicks because I was sure they would pick on it because it was so helpless. I guess that I felt it was my responsibility to do the deed since I was the reason it was alive in the first place. Your right gumpsgirl. It is absolutely the worst part of hatching and raising chickens. But I guess you have to take the good with the bad if you want to raise your own eggs and meat. Better luck next time.

 

[En Plein Air Farms]

You gave a living creature of God love and tenderness and caring, more than some people see in a lifetime, if you care to look at it that way; and a quick ending.
You are a stong and wise person, thank you for sharing your painful story.