Do any of you hold back?

[twentynine]

Do any of you ever find yourselves not responding to a thread in this forum, because you find it hard to not reccommend putting an animal down?

Over the year I have been a member here, I always check this forum, even responded a few times, however allot of times I find myself just closing a thread and moving on. Mostly because I don't want to start a debate on euthanasia. I understand that in many of these cases the guys needing help view and treat the chickens as members of the family. But when they tell about the chicken not being able to walk for days, organs exposed, no eyes and other stuff like that. I find that I have to just move along, but am I doing a disservice to the animal, relief from suffering is also a responsibility of a good owner.

I am not wanting to kick the "top off the ant hill" it is not a debate on the benefits of euthanasia or not, that I am looking for, it's a question of whether some of you see things the same way I do. Or, am I some sort of frankenstien, for thinking it?

 

[Opa]

Not wanting to offend people often keeps me from stating what I feel to be quite obvious. I understand not wanting to do all that is possible to save a bird but spending big money to save a $3 dollar bird just doesn't make sense to me. Two things I tell people that are just getting into raising chickens are that in spite of your best efforts some are going to die. The second is to remember that it is just a chicken.

 

[chics in the sun]

Yes, despite being a big animal lover and a city chic, I do often think that about some of the birds that just look so awful and are obviously suffering. Part of me admires the dedication it takes for some of these owners to save them, though. I usually just move on from the threads - for one thing, I don't really have much experience to offer much help, and as you said, sometimes I just wonder if it would be best to cull. I am hatching out my first clutch under a broody (day 7!!), and I have prepared myself, my BF, and his two daughters that they may not all make it, and that is just part of raising chickens. When I worked in a scicence museum in High School we had an incubator for kids to watch the chicks hatch, and a little bin of baby chicks for them to pet. My supervisor would use some sort of chemical in a jar to euthinize one if it got seriously injured or was badly deformed when it was born. Do you guys know what that was? I'm trying to be prepared for a worst-case scenario.

 

[Kansaseq]

I have to admit, I've read many a story and thought that euthanasia was the logical conclusion. However,over the years I have sewn up more than a couple due to dog/raccoon attacks. Am currently rehabbing a duck who got her foot stuck. As a tech, I have access to more than the average person as far as medical advice and equipment. However, if I had a bird with catastrophic injuries, I have no problems euthanizing. For me, they are somewhere between livestock and pets. Not on the same level as my dogs, but if it's a relatively easy fix and they can recover, I usually give it a try.

 

[dsqard]

I agree with Opa in the sense that they are just chickens and if you have them long enough you will lose some. I know that I am not as attached to mine as some people are and that is fine by me. I would try to some things if they were fairly simple (bumble foot surgery for example) but if I had one that was attacked by a predator and had massive injuries or had one that was terribly ill with some kind of disease I would euthanize them. I do refrain from giving that kind of advice to people though since I understand that some people are as attached to their chickens as I am to my dogs and my horses. To each their own and what makes you happy is going to be different for everyone. I heard some really good advice from a cattle rancher a couple of months ago. He said his dad told him the only way to make sure you never lose a cow is to never own them.

 

[CityChicker]

I totally agree with you, OP. I do find myself biting my tongue a lot. There are some things that you just can't say without offending someone and it is very hard to know in advance how someone is going to take things like this. It does frustrate me because I feel like we are sometimes not doing what is best for the animal and quite honestly, there are times when I sometimes feel like reaching through the computer and shaking some sense into a poster. What really gets me are people that claim they love their poultry as if they are pets and yet they don't give them adequate protection and refuse to get them the necessary medical care when needed. That to me is an admission that the animal is not really a pet (which in my opinion is just fine, as my birds I definitely see as livestock). You wouldn't see someone here asking for advice on things like amputating their dog's leg because they don't want to take it to a vet (after its been injured solely because of the owner's inadequate care).

All of it frustrates me. I understand that these creatures are viewed differently by different people, but I was apparently raised to view them differently than a lot of people here on BYC. I was taught early on that these animals are relying on me for safety, care, and compassion. When they need medical care, there are a few different options. You can treat the bird yourself if the prognosis is good and you have the knowledge to treat the problem. If you don't have the necessary knowledge, you take it to a vet or another person that can help you. If it wouldn't be prudent to keep the healed animal (due to the future ramifications for it or your flock), then you compassionately cull it. You don't let animals needlessly suffer for days on end because you don't have the fortitude to put it out of its' misery. What really gets my goat is when they then tell you that *YOU* are uncaring for recommending culling, meanwhile letting it suffer until its' eventual demise.

So, yes, in answer to your question. Very often I see posts here where I want to recommend culling, situations in which I would never endorse keeping the animal alive because the prognosis is not good or it would have a lifetime of diminished capacity (not to mention, in the case of things like congenital problems, I don't want things like failure to thrive in my flock). Sorry for the long post, LOL.

 

[oliviad51]

I agree. I had a hen once that got injured terribly by a raccoon above her leg. There were maggots everywhere and you cound even see her bone. I was told to put her down but couldn't. I knew she would die anyways. (This hen was special to me and the sweetest one I have. Her sister also got killed the same night by the raccoon.) I worked as hard as I could to keep the wound clean, and treat her for it. In about 3 weeks she was running around everywhere. To this day I still have her and she is doing better than ever. So no, I do not believe in putting an animal down unless you *know* it is going to die.

 

[oliviad51]

I agree. I had a hen once that got injured terribly by a raccoon above her leg. There were maggots everywhere and you cound even see her bone. I was told to put her down but couldn't. I knew she would die anyways. (This hen was special to me and the sweetest one I have. Her sister also got killed the same night by the raccoon.) I worked as hard as I could to keep the wound clean, and treat her for it. In about 3 weeks she was running around everywhere. To this day I still have her and she is doing better than ever. So no, I do not believe in putting an animal down unless you *know* it is going to die.
Yes, it is a $3 chicken, but its a living thing. No living thing deserves to be killed all the time without hope that its going to make it through. If you were put in the same situation as the chicken, of course you wouldn't want to suffer, but wouldn't you want to be loved and cared for?

 

[CityChicker]

See this is already becoming a discussion about the morality of culling, LOL. I knew it would within just a few posts. As other people point out in these threads continuously, chickenlvr, chickens are not people. The comparison is, to me, completely nonsensical and almost bizarre. It is only to be expected (at least by me, LOL) that we would make more valiant efforts to save a human being than a chicken. The fact that this point is lost on many is almost unbelievable to me. That said, when someone does cull a bird that is suffering, the goal *is* generally to show that animal "love and care".

I certainly respect your point of view on injured animals. I see this whole issue as something that each person needs to make their own mind up about. We all have different ideas about what conditions or injuries warrant culling and which don't. It's really like almost anything else with animals. Some people think they all should be treated as pets. Some people think that they should never even be kept by humans period. Some people think that animals, especially livestock animals, are merely a human feed source. Other people are vehemently opposed to that to the point of not even being willing to ingest animals medicinally. That is the way of the world I suppose. We can all make our own choices, but going back to the original question, I see threads daily where I would likely cull the bird, not try to heal it.

 

[speckledhen]

Doing what is best for the animal is the primary consideration, not what is best or easiest for us. I do recommend euthanasia often with as much tact and compassion as I can muster. Sometimes, yes, I don't understand why some can't see that this is the best course of action when to me, it's plain as day, but I do recognize and relate to the emotions involved way too closely.