Disposing of Deceased Birds in Winter

[Matilda Belle]

I would burn them as well. But, just a fair warning, it will smell heavenly, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Will I be tempted to eat her? Maybe I'll smother her in barbeque sauce beforehand since I hate barbeque sauce.

 

[MIchickenlady]

When I unexpectedly lost a hen last winter in sub 0 temps, my only choice was to wrap her up real good in plastic bags and put her in the trash can to be picked up. We live in town, on a small lot-no place for compost. I felt terrible doing that, but no choice.

 

[AsaDotJava]

I've had that happen a few times with neighbouring dogs. My own dog is kept in a run, since she'd try and assist with sending the live birds on to the next plane of existence.

I HATE when people let their dogs roam the Earth! My dogs are all contained as a rule, and then we rotate who gets to run around the ranch while we are working on stuff... Who gets to run around depends very much on how close we are working to the livestock, because I also have some dogs who aren't stock safe. Our stock is all contained as well, though, to help lessen the liklihood of incidents.

@wyoDreamer - That is amazing that it freezes so deeply! I would think, then, that if you are able to melt maybe a foot or two in and placed the carcass... the frozen ground underneath would help cool it and contain the smell (so predators wouldn't be as tempted)? And then if you replace the soil over it, that soil would freeze over again rather quickly?

 

[ValerieJ]

I had a wild duck come into my yard and die a few days ago. When I discovered her, I was getting ready for dinner guests and had not time to deal with it. With the shorter days, I knew I wouldn't have enough daylight to bury her after dinner, so I set her inside the forest thinking I would bury her in the morning. Well, of course she wasn't there in the morning. I'm glad she provided food for some other critter, but I sure don't like the idea of inviting the wildlife over for fowl dinners!!! My husband asked why I didn't put it in a plastic bag in the trash, and I really don't know. I just didn't think about it. But, why not?

 

[Mimi13]

Will I be tempted to eat her? Maybe I'll smother her in barbeque sauce beforehand since I hate barbeque sauce.

No, I don’t think so, but the smell of grilling chicken is fabulous, in and of itself, sans the BBQ sauce.

 

[aart]

I would burn them as well. But, just a fair warning, it will smell heavenly, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Have you burned one? It takes a pretty hot fire doesn't it?
I would think the smell of burning feathers would trump any BBQ type odors.

The one that is likely to pass soon is about 1 1/2 years old. She's has had a crop issue for quite some time. :'(

Might be good to go proactive and put her down now.

Confession, I had a chicken die over winter. I just put it in a trash bag and in the trash can and it went out to the curb on trash day.

Have done this too, during winter when I couldn't get out to woods easily.

And having burials and funerals for my chickens every few months isn't really practical.

Why are you losing so many.

I put the corpse back in the woods back a little way, since the ground is frozen. I make sure to do it far enough away that it's not tempting predators to hang around the coop.

I have 15 wooded acres so plenty of space to toss a body and slaughter trash in the woods.
First one I tossed, I went way back...but coyote showed up the next day checking out the live ones. They have good sniffers and probably just tracked me back to the yard.

 

[Rammy]

I have a brush pile I burn mine in. You dont smell anything.

 

[Matilda Belle]

Why are you losing so many.

I was exaggerating a bit. This is the second adult Silkie loss this year. My rooster had something wrong with his foot so we put him down and then my hen just passed yesterday. I’ve lost a couple chicks this year too which I think is pretty normal.

 

[Mimi13]

Have you burned one? It takes a pretty hot fire doesn't it?
I would think the smell of burning feathers would trump any BBQ type odors.

Yes I have burned many, but only the unfeathered carcass remains. My burning barrel is up close to my coop (also where I dispatch and butcher). I just chunk in several fallen limbs, that I’m constantly picking up from my yard, and add a couple of horse feed bags (great tinder) for a little roaring fire and toss in the offal and unused portions of the carcass. And YES it is a heavenly smell.

Recently I shot a freaking rattlesnake that ventured into my ground level, open coop. The FIRST pit viper I’ve seen on my property in 12 years. I shot the intruder, skinned it and fed the meat to my chickens. I then tossed the remaining skeleton into the fire. It smelled wonderful as well. So good, in fact, if I ever kill another one I am going to cook it. As I picked the meat off for the birds, the raw meat smelled a lot like fish does when I clean them. Strange, huh? I didn’t burn its head though. It was placed in a sealed plastic container and thrown in my garbage.

 

[centrarchid]

Mine are mostly used a dog food.