This has been a rough week. Our rooster was attacked by a predator some weeks ago and started to recover but they crashed. The humane thing to do was end his suffering, so I had to go out with an axe and put him out of the pain. It was horrible to do, but he was already really lethargic and there was no drama involved.
Since I was already having a horrible week due to losing our favorite Roo, I decided I would cull the little cockerels that were a result of a hatch a few weeks ago. I researched the methods and used my prior knowledge. I used to work in a lab where they put animals down using CO2. The animals do panic and I didn't want to use that method. But if I hadn't had my past experiences how would I have known? The OP did the best with what she had researched. You did the right thing by your hen in the end.
Ether and other anesthetics work much better, so I decided to go with the starter fluid. I put three chicks in a bucket, sprayed fluid in another container and then placed the smaller container in with the chicks and put the lid on. They peacefully went to sleep quickly and I thought it worked well. Then I picked out two more chicks to cull, but ended up only being able to do one of them since the second is my favorite and I am weak! I put the singleton in the bucket and he just wouldn't pass on. He was groogy but still alive. I added more fluid and moved the bucket to the garage. After 30 minutes he still was alive so I decided I would have to decapitate him. That part was totally horrible. He was flapping all over and got loose in the yard before rolling down the hill. It was totally traumatizing, but somehow I didn't freak out. I had to get a flashlight to find him on the bottom of the hill. He was finally gone, which what the only relief to the whole ordeal. I really don't think I can snip a neck again. My thoughts on the failure of the starter fluid on the last chick are that since there was only one in the bucket it didn't use up all the oxygen like the others had. It was also colder since I had moved the bucket outside, so maybe the ether didn't evaporate well at a lower temperature. If I have to do it again I will use a smaller bucket or do more chicks at one time. I LOVE chicks and doing this myself was horrible. It is part of the business if I plan to breed chickens, but it will definitely take a long time to get used to.
The only thing I considered that might better is carbon monoxide from car exhaust. Apparently it just puts you to sleep and you don't feel a thing. It seems rather labor intensive to hook it up to a car though. I'd also worry about a neighbor looking over and wonder what I was up to. They probably wouldn't ask, but I can see the rumor mill starting up already.
