How To Humanely Euthanize A Chicken..

[trudyg]

I try to get a head shot and do it that way, but another way for me is to hang or hold them upside down and, once they pass out, use the garden loppers to cut off the head. I don't aim good with an axe, but a still chicken and loppers works very well for me.

 

[Memaandthegirls]

A lot of bad ideas here!!!!! Just put it in a pet taxi,cover with a blanket,and stick it by your car exhaust. Go have a cup of coffee,and the job will be done.

Sighhhhhh, an hour later and that much less gas, chickens still pecking away in the pet carrier. I covered the carrier in 2 blankets left a small opening to shove up against the exhaust pipe, coned a big outdoor mat all around the whole back of the car and the carrier and still have 2 chickens needing to move on to a better place!

 

[casportpony]

Sighhhhhh, an hour later and that much less gas, chickens still pecking away in the pet carrier. I covered the carrier in 2 blankets left a small opening to shove up against the exhaust pipe, coned a big outdoor mat all around the whole back of the car and the carrier and still have 2 chickens needing to move on to a better place!

Welcome to BYC! The car exhaust is not one of the humane methods recommended.

 

[casportpony]

@Memaandthegirls , https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/euthanasia-information.1195265/

 

[Al Capon]

I had to recently put a hen down that I'd been caring for as she wasn't going to recover.

I can't do the "chop off the head" thing. I've killed all manner of beasts and fowl with guns and bows, but I just can't cut anything's neck, really bothers me. And I have no interest in eating my birds. They're egg-laying pets, and I can't eat my pets.

So, I've found that a 12ga loaded with #4 Buckshot fired at center of mass from about 10 feet instantly takes all the life out of a chicken. It's fast, there usually isn't even so much as a twitch as most of the organs and nervous system are immediately removed.

It does make a mess and it isn't pretty, but it is instant death for the chicken. Although not nice for me as I have to clean it up, I don't think I could make death come quicker for something that is suffering.