How to humanely put down a chick

[poultrycrazy]

My sister recently raised 26 meat chickens for ed tech (a school program) and we couldnt help but keep a few. Well slowly 1 by 1 the ones we were keeping slowly started to get sick and die. Well the last one that got sick had a crooked neck and we were just keeping it alive by feeding it and giving it water cuz it couldnt do it itself. I am very lucky to have an aunt that is a vet tech. The vetrenarian there is a very nice lady and has helped us so much like doing research to cure my pet toad and later putting him down, they have helped my mom and our dog so much they saved my dogs life because she had pancrientitis (sorry for my spelling) and almost died but they took extra good care of her. Anyways to get back to the chicken, we felt like we were keeping him alive for our own sake hoping he would get better and we were afraid he was suffering. So i called my aunt and ask her if they new how to put him down, she said they would happily put him down for us ( which obviously i took that option) or there is a VERY humane way to do it at home.

Before i tell you how, i am telling you this because i just read a thread that had some pretty cruel stuff on the for putting a chick down. The vetrenarian said that you take a black garbage bag and you set the chick inside of it, then you tape it to your cars tail pipe and turn the car on. Depending on how old it is it should take anywere from 5-10 minutes maybe a little more. This is just as humane as putting an animal down with a needle at the vet. It just makes them go to sleep. This method also works for an animal that has been hit on the road and is still alive yet suffering.

 

[Beekissed]

5-10 min. of burning eyes and nasal passages while breathing poisonous fumes....I don't know. That sounds kind of inhumane to me. How soon does she say they will fall asleep? Instantly? Or does it take the full 5-10 min. for the actual sleeping to occur?

A severe traumatic head injury would be instantaneous, to my thinking, and so easy to do with a young chick. All the freezing in the freezer, breathing different gases and other rather slow methods of death seem a little unnecessary and sound horrible~imagine being cold until you die or fighting for oxygen while you are gassed to death?

 

[NonnasBabies]

You will hear lots of ways that people do it to make it easier on themselves. The easy and quick way is to snip it's head off with a pair of VERY sharp scissors or gardening shears!! Did I say very sharp????

 

[MonkeyZero]

I agree with Barred Babies.
Decapitation is FAST and pretty much painless.
If you cant do it, have someone else do it for you. I know I couldnt handle euthanizing ANY animal.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Quote:
I agree, the chick doesnt even know what happened. You should do what is best for the chick, not easier on yourself.

 

[artsyrobin]

in the long run, i agree with the other posters- but here is info a friend sent me - i am assuming they go to sleep?

I am sorry to hear of your culling problem, it is hard to do when they are so attach to you. It is relatively easy and quick to place them in an air tight container and place a sponge saturated with starter fluid in the container and seal it and leave for a while. Try not to dwell on something that needs done, it is hard I know but think of it as an act of mercy. I hope this will make it some easier on you, I do know how hard this is to do as I really have a problem doing these things too​

 

[Silkie Sue]

i'm glad someone is talking about this because inevitably we all are going to have to do at some point.
my main concern is " make it quick" and not messy.
for a full grown chicken ( i have not done this myself yet) but i had someone come over and do it and i watched

grab the chicken by the head and swing it in a quick circle, this instantly dislocates the spinal column from the brain and the chicken is dead instantly. i have to warn you though.. they do flop around for a minute but i was assured that it was only nerves. i am confident she was right.
for a small chick this is also a method that can be used but instead of swinging in a circle, a quick snap like crackin a whip would do the job on a chick. (| once again i have only witnessed and not done it myself)
i am fortunate to work with a "die hard " farm girl who has seen it all, and does not mind doing my dirty work.
l love all my animals and do not want any to suffer so i hope when the time comes the courage to do what is right will overcome my fear of not doing it right

by the way, i don't think gassing is the best way to go... i would probably prefer drowning if your going to go that way it would probably take less time

 

[Beekissed]

I have found that "whip snap" technique works better than wringing on adult birds too! The last two I killed I did a quick jerk up and down and actually felt/heard the dislocation of the cervical spine in my hands.

I've had mere wringing, no matter how vigorous, to not net good results every time. I had one hen that had to be wrung several times, with great vigor...she still would run off with her neck on sideways and we would have to catch her and try again. NOT my finest hour!

Finally did the whip snap thingy and it ended it all.

 

[Silkie Sue]

oh my goodness!!

i would like to revise my method of choice for " neck snap" for any chicken..big or little
i would definitely loose my nerve if it did not work the first time, so sorry you had to go through that.... and poor chicken

 

[FRlEDeggs]

The most humane way to put down a chicken is to take it to the vet to be euthanized.