"Humane" way of culling chicken?

[BigBlueHen53]

Oops! Sorry.

 

[Eggcessive]

I wouldn’t give anything to sedate a bird whose meat I was going to butcher. I am unaware of how most slaughter turkeys. I usually cull sick birds by tying the legs together and placing them upside down hung on a nail on a tree. A killing cone works as well. Then with a very sharp knife, I cut the jugular veins on one or both sides, and the bird quickly bleeds out. We don’t eat our chickens.

 

[Debbie292d]

If you have any friends that hunt can you ask them to dispatch her?

All my birds that have needed euthanasia have been shot point blank in the back of the head with a .22 long gun after dark. By the time a hen needs euthanasia, they are typically very weak and don't struggle or try to wander off.

She is taken to the site (usually up the road in the woods well away from the coop/run/pen) and gently laid on the ground on her keel. Then I walk away and my friend puts the gun to her head and it's over in a split second.

My personal preference is to leave her where she lay. I'd rather some animal come along and find her for a meal and survive that night because she died than bury her. I think it is more natural and for me, it is just her body. The essence of her is no longer there.

Exactly how I do it. Take them out in the forest behind our house but farthest from the coop I can get, shoot with my 20-gauge pretty close range, then walk away. Only 4 of them thus far I believe.

 

[KristinJoy]

I have read a post somewhere here about human way of culling chicken. Put them to sleep first and then cull ..or something..
I don't want them to suffer, so if anyone could point me to that thread/article/post would be thankful.

Look up broomstick method

 

[BDutch]

Look up broomstick method

If you do it wrong it’s a torture. How many times did you practice the broomstick method until you could do it right?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

If you do it wrong it’s a torture. How many times did you practice the broomstick method until you could do it right?

Got it right on second try. Chicken was probably dead on first attempt, but the flopping was disconcerting, had not expected that. On immediate second attempt, bird was decapitated so we were sure. It still flopped a bit, but at least no further doubts. Would not use this method if we planned to eat the bird, but effective for emergency culling of sick/ injured bird.

 

[Koiandchicks]

This is from my chicken book:
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Which books is this?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

But we still haven't answered OP's question. What to give the bird to BREATHE to put it to sleep before culling? Well - we sort of did, we talked about letting it breathe ether. But this being basically starter fluid, I can't recommend using that if you plan to eat the bird. This being a sick turkey, you could probably just put the fluid on a rag and hold it over its face until it passed out. In the time-honored manner of murderers and kidnappers in fiction and B movies. (The turkey that was the subject of this thread is probably long dead by now anyway, not much thanks to us. My apologies to the OP.)

 

[Daniel Grey]

Which books is this?

 

[BDutch]

But we still haven't answered OP's question. What to give the bird to BREATHE to put it to sleep before culling? Well - we sort of did, we talked about letting it breathe ether. But this being basically starter fluid, I can't recommend using that if you plan to eat the bird. This being a sick turkey, you could probably just put the fluid on a rag and hold it over its face until it passed out. In the time-honored manner of murderers and kidnappers in fiction and B movies. (The turkey that was the subject of this thread is probably long dead by now anyway, not much thanks to us. My apoloto the OP

People with a sick chicken in pain that want to end the life without further pain are probably not interested in eating the chicken.

In the other topic about euthanising a chicken someone mentioned gassing in an airtight box.

If @Maiahr wants to eat the chicken I think its fine to kill the chicken with nitrogen/CO2 gas. CO2 is not poisonous in food you eat. But Im not sure if you can use it to sedate the chicken because if you get the chicken out before it’s dead it regains consciousness fast.

I read about a research on ‘humain’ killing for chickens and turkeys (its in Dutch)
https://ilvo.vlaanderen.be/nl/onder...thode-voor-het-doden-van-individueel-pluimvee

The conclusion translated with Google:

The tested alternative methods with the captive bolt method and the nitrogen method appear to be good methods in terms of speed, certainty and duration of loss of consciousness. In contrast, there is doubt about the rate of loss of consciousness in mechanical cervical dislocation using a neck breaker. If this technique is used, we recommend stunning the animal first (for example by hitting it on the head). On the other hand, the stress associated with these methods comes from having to move the animals to a separate area.

Gassing methods for an individual chicken are described in this article: https://www.pluimveeloket.be/Dierenwelzijn/Individueel-doden/Artikel-individueel-doden
I/google translated two parts of the article. The first is about The obligation for so-called humane killing in EU.

Spoiler: ethical obligation to kill productive animals that suffer significant pain

This article attempts to provide a summary of the currently applicable legal framework.

Ethical obligation

European Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 (of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing) states that it is an ethical obligation to kill productive animals that suffer significant pain if there is no economic feasible way to relieve that pain.
The regulation also states that many methods of killing animals are painful and that it is necessary to stun the animals to eliminate their consciousness or sensitivity before or at the time of killing.

Intoxication mandatory

The regulation defines stunning as “any deliberately used method which painlessly induces an animal to become unconscious or insensible, including methods which result in immediate death”. Some stunning methods can lead directly to the death of animals in such a way that they cause no pain and as little tension and suffering as possible to the animals. Other stunning methods do not directly lead to death, which means that the animals can become sensitive or conscious again. These methods must therefore always be supplemented with another technique that will certainly lead to death before the animals recover.

The second part I/google translated is where the nitrogen method is explained.
It says you can opt for direct exposure of animals to a mixture with more than 40% CO2 in an airtight sac or box.

Spoiler: Poultry gas method with nitrogen

The poultry farmer must always comply with the instructions when using (hazardous) gases in order not to endanger his own safety. The storage and storage of hazardous gases must also comply with, among other things, environmental legislation.

According to the European Regulation, various gases can be used for gas stunning of poultry, namely CO2, CO and inert gases such as nitrogen or argon. The use of gas is a 'clean' method in terms of biosafety, in the sense that if the gas mixture is fatal, no blood is released with the possible further risk of spreading diseases, etc. CO2 Carbon dioxide can be used in its pure form or can be mixed with inert gases.

When pure CO2 is used, you can opt for direct exposure of animals to a mixture with more than 40% CO2. This can be used in containers, tunnels, pits or previously airtight buildings and can be applied to all poultry.

You can also choose to administer the CO2 in 2 phases, namely an initial exposure of animals to a gas mixture with a CO2 concentration lower than 40%, followed by exposure to a gas mixture with a higher concentration once the animals have have lost consciousness. CO2 can also be mixed with inert gases (such as nitrogen or argon). The animals are exposed directly or gradually to a gas mixture containing up to 40% CO2 mixed with inert gases. This results in an oxygen deficiency.

The method can be used in pits, pockets, tunnels, containers or buildings that have been sealed airtight in advance. It provides simple stunning for poultry if exposure to at least 30% CO2 is less than 3 minutes. Afterwards, the animals must be bled. However, the method can also lead directly to death if exposure is long enough (longer than 3 minutes).