How to kill male chicks

[Fred's Hens]

One day, my grandmother took me to the cockerel yard. She said, "We got to get after these "fryers" and have a couple for dinner. We'll need a couple for the preacher too." She showed me one. She showed me the second. Then, I did one and then another.

No I am not sure I could use words and even if I did, you'd still have to see it and then do some yourself. It's a visual thing. Kind of like doctoring someone's tennis grip and swing or the grip and swing in golf.

In a nutshell, when I teach 4H type kids this method is the over hand grip of your twisting/snapping hand. You have to create an almost 360 degree turn with your wrist in the grip. You pre-load your grip hand so that when you unload it, you create a virtual 360 degree twist. The motion is one done quickly and with great purpose and determination. It really isn't a strength move at all. There's dozens of young'uns down in Kentucky, girls, who can go fetch a bird or two for dinner. Some of these little girls don't weight 50 pounds themselves.

Remember, you began this discussion about just a chick. There's not much to it when you talking a chick, quite honestly.
With that? I'm done. I wish you all the best.

 

[FenikT]

A (softball size) chunk of dry ice dropped in a shallow dish of water in a cooler does the trick in no time flat. The by-product of melting dry ice is CO2.

 

[dazz02]

A great website found follow the link. - http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/index.php/euthanasia-machine.html

 

[settingdusk]

Absolute quickest, most humane way to do it, is a sharp blow to the back of the head. Its instant, and that is how they taught us to kill prey in the military.

 

[imogene08]

this depresses me =[ why dont you just sell them not kill them cause you dont want a rooster! give it a good home without taking a babys life.bet you wouldnt do it if you didnt want a human baby that was a boy =[

 

[dazz02]

nobody wants them where i live in the uk

 

[Mrwinchester]

buy a snake

 

[tackleberry]

JESUS.........

 

[imogene08]

doesnt have to mean you have to kill a little baby chick

 

[twentynine]

I have been silent in the BYC forum as of late because I find that a lot of my thoughts do not mesh with the general flow here. So rather than cause an uproar I simply tell myself that "all threads do not need a responce from me".

This one however hits a little close to home. Please allow me to explain.

I started a black sexlink operation a couple years ago. My initial plan was to breed a generation or two, keep a few hens from each generation and chart weights along with egg laying statistics. I planned to "do away with the cockerals at hatch". Figured I could save resources if I didn't spend them on the cockerals. Well, that was the plan, in fact and action it didn't work out that way.

First was the pure math of a sexlink operation. Collecting and hatching the eggs, identifying and killing the cockerals, then selling the pullets. Well this is how that works, or in my case doesn't work. Let's use an example of 50 eggs set for incubation. 50 eggs set with an 80% hatch rate = 40 live chicks hatched. Of the 40 hatched approximately 50% will be cockerals. So 50% of 40 chicks = 20 chicks. Now these 20 chicks are what you can sell for a return. In my part of the world I can sell a day old pullet (1 day to 14 days actual) for $3. So take the 20 chicks X $3 ea. and we come up with $60. Now compare to a simple RIR straight run hatch, same number of eggs set, same hatch rate. 50 eggs X 80% equal the same 40 birds. I can now sell 40 straight run day olds for $2 ea. So 40 X $2 = $80. That's a 25% increase in cash, with no extra work, no dealing with the cockerals.

Now that I covered the math. Let me talk about my own problems when dealing with the cockerals. In a nutshell, I can't do it. The first hatch of sexlinks, I did cull the males as soon as they were hatched. Never have I felt more disgusted with myself, how could I have done something like that. Me, I can't figure why I had the problems. Normally my first thought when dealing with a handicapped, injured or ill chicken is to cull the bird to protect the rest of the flock. I have never been squeemish about it, grab the affected bird, chop and it's done. But it's different when dealing with a hatchling, I have watched this new life struggle into the world for sometimes hours, never forgetting that hatching (oh I am going to get in trouble for this) is a B!7@&. I figure if that thing fought so danged hard to hatch, how can I kill it. Like I said earlier, I read the threads in the emergency/illness/desease section and my first thought is to recommend culling (never do). I just can't do it to a hatchling unless hatched with a quality of life issue, then I believe it to be my responsibility, to alliviate it's suffering. But when I look down and see a half a bucket full of culled cockeral day olds, then feel the weight as I pick it up. Well enough drama, that's one of the issues I have with portions of this forum, and here I am going for an Oscar.

Just this month, after struggling to find a way to either use the cockerals in some responsible manner or quit hatching sexlinks, I have had to decide to quit the sexlink operation. And I have tried everything, reptile food, donating to food banks, Camp Kenmore until the freeze lid don't shut and the nieghbors refuse to open their doors when I knock. Reptile food? They just ain't that many snake owner's that live or dead feed chicks.

Now to simply answer the OP's original question. Do not make it more complicated than it needs to be. A chick is very small, removal of the head is very very easy. All the talk of CO2, car exhaust and what have you is simply to complicated to work easily.