How Do You Dispose of a Dead Chicken?

[MrsAuberry00]

Thank you, everyone. I initially thought burying it would be the thing a person would consider first, but as @azygous and @andreanar posted, I thought about other animals digging up the graves. We do have a ravine, and a dumpster, but the idea of tossing them out like garbage seems, I don't know, disrespectful somehow. I know they're just chickens, but I've grown very fond of the poop machines. Hopefully I don't have to deal with this situation for a long while to come.

 

[PatrickRoo]

Thank you, everyone. I initially thought burying it would be the thing a person would consider first, but as @azygous and @andreanar posted, I thought about other animals digging up the graves. We do have a ravine, and a dumpster, but the idea of tossing them out like garbage seems, I don't know, disrespectful somehow. I know they're just chickens, but I've grown very fond of the poop machines. Hopefully I don't have to deal with this situation for a long while to come.

If you throw it in the dumpster, it's likely that a raccoon or animal of some sort will eventually find it, eat it, then become ill. As @keesmom said, you could bury the chicken and then cover up the hole with rocks to prevent it from being dug up.

 

[AkChris]

Recently I did have a dog attack and he really chewed up, mangled the poor hen so I wasn't going to butcher that one. I actually put it in a crab pot for bait as we happen to be going out to check our pots the next day. Not the most common way to dispose of a chicken though. One that died last winter for unknown reasons was wrapped up and thrown in the trash. Ground was frozen otherwise I probably would have buried it.

 

[Leighe]

Lots of different answers, cool. We are on a big farm and all things contribute to the circle of life. We grow rocks (just kidding but it feels that way), they keep coming up out of the ground....of course when we have rock delivered for the drives THOSE rocks keep sinking in the ground...can't win. So we bury our dogs close to the house and put rocks all over the graves. The chickens and the rest of our animals go over to the NE pasture and are laid there for the buzzards, coyotes or whatever else comes along.

 

[cavemanrich]

I bury ALL my deceased pets. I feel that they should be returned to Earth. I also secure the site with covering of large stone, patio blocks, whatever it takes to prevent being dug up. I do this out of respect for the pets life. I don't remove stone until next time I need to use them. By then they are well decomposed. A few times it was winter and I cremated them. The ground was frozen. @azygous .. I see your point in your way of handling it after the bear encounters. I do not have any bears in area.
Oops, spoke too soon, I do have the Chicago Bears, but all they are interested in is FOOTBALL.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Can I ever sympathize with you! My husband went off on a 2 month trip for work. The day he left my cellphone died. Got a new one that afternoon only to have it destroyed the next day when a dog went after me (along with holes in my hand and thigh). The fridge died. The water heater died and started leaking. The sliding doors in my minivan stopped working. Took our truck instead and got a flat (nail in the tire). Couldn't get the tire off so I had to bring it in where they spent 45 minutes with a sledgehammer pounding it off. And that's just what I remember off the top of my head.

So I completely understand why you feel the way you do. For us, we bury our deceased. We cover the remains underground with rocks to try to prevent them from being dug up again.

OMG! That is the worst day I'll ever to be able to conceive!
I hope it is all down hill from there.
Goodness gracious.. I will try to count "my" blessings and hope the sunshine will follow you!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I toss mine off a cliff on my property. Digging holes in the summer takes a good half hour with a pickaxe thanks to all the rocks, and the other half the year the ground is too frozen to dig at all.

The ole "aerial burial" method.

 

[Melodychick]

I bury mine just like I do my other pets. I cover the grave with a wheelbarrow load of fresh horse manure. Whenever I've done this no one has been dug up. Once I didn't have any manure and used some powdered carpet fresh and that worked until I could put the manure on top the next day.

 

[azygous]

I bury mine just like I do my other pets. I cover the grave with a wheelbarrow load of fresh horse manure. Whenever I've done this no one has been dug up. Once I didn't have any manure and used some powdered carpet fresh and that worked until I could put the manure on top the next day.

Do you have bears? With their "main-frame" computing capacity ability to sort through a million different odors to target food, your cemetery would be toast should one ever wander by. I agree your strategy should prevent smaller scavengers from disturbing the site, though.

 

[aart]

I toss mine into the woods far from the house, I have 15 acres,
something will eat it or it will rot back into the earth.

When I buried my dog I went about 2-3' deep,
then added a layer of 2x4 welded wire fencing about 8-12" down.