I have to destroy my entire flock. I need a very humane way

[quinkerton]

We too use a .22 to cull our birds. My husband will hang them upside down first to relax then so they don't move around. This seems to be the fastest way. The broomstick meathod scares me, and you need to be precise with the axe. Just our method. We also put a bucket under them to catch the blood as they bleed out. Or you could just dig a ditch under where you would hang them and then just burn the entire flock when you are done. I would burn them and not bury them. It will contaminate the soil and anything that may dig them up. And trust me, something will.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Man I really feel for you having to deal with this tough decision. If the shoe was on the other foot and it were me going thru this I'd choose to close the flock, noone comes in and nothing goes out! My chickens are my life, my babies, my dear sweet pets. There is no way I could cull the whole flock. If thats what some feel is best for them I am all for it but personally I couldn't do it. I rescued a few birds last winter (cochins) from HORRIBLE living conditions. Mold on the walls of the coop, ammonia smell so strong it made your eyes water and no bedding for the chickens to roam in just dirt floors caked in HUGE amounts of poop. Knowing these birds came from nasty conditions I had already planned ahead and had quarentine quarters set up for them. I immediately put them on duramycin for the congestion they had going on and as the days went on they never got better, they had a nasty odor to them, frothy eyes, gunk coming out of their nose. That particular time I opted to cull them. I am very thankful I have gained so much knowledge on this site about the importance of quarentine, had I not known to do that my whole flock would be devistated with CRD from those birds I tried to "save".

Best of luck to you whatever decision you decide to make and again I am so sorry you are going thru this

 

[t&a]

I guys, just thought I should weigh in on this one. First off I want to extend my deepest sympathy to you for having to go through with this. This is something that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I am a biologist with extensive experience in humanely euthanizing animals. That being said, I have little experience working with birds, and have only been a chicken-owner for the last two months. This is certainly more difficult for you than it will be for them. Your girls are sick and hurting, as long as their death is quick and painless they will be better off. Regardless of this, I would strongly suggest finding someone else to do this for you. It is one thing to rationally know that something is right, and another to willingly kill off animals that you are emotionally attatched to.

In terms of the correct method, cervical dislocation, when performed correctly is entirely humane, and a vetrinary-accepted method of euthanizing an animal. We are only asked to follow up the cervial-dislocation with a "secondary-method" to ensure that the animal is dead. I have had some difficulty with cervial dislocastions in the past, and have ended up paralyzing animals without killing them, and as a result I rarely attempt this on my own. Chopping off the animals' head is also a commonly accepted ethanization procedure. It is gross, but it is extremely fast and efficient. What I worry about in this situation though, is that animals have an accute sense of smell. While the first couple of chickens may be naieve to what is about to ensue, it is unquestionable that the others will smell the blood and become nervous. Personally I aphixiate animals with CO2 gas, and while it is not necessarily the best method, it is what I feel most comfertable with. Even in a lab setting it takes ~1 minute for the animals to go down. Death is painless certainly, but the animals are gasping for air until they fall asleep.

As for the mycoplasm, most everything I have read here is correct to my knowledge. Mycoplasm is a tiny bacteria that is not visable under a standard light microscope. And yes, it is generally present in the enviornment, but we certainly try to eliminate it our laboratory setting, as it slowley and progessively interferes with the vitality of cells. Here in the lab, any cells that have become infected with mycoplasm are discarded, regardless of the cost/time involved with the sample. It is simpley not practical to try and fight off mycoplasm at the risk of contaminating other cell lines.

I don't know how this helps you, but please feel free to contact me with whatever questions you may have.

hang in there

 

[seminolewind]

I am really sorry. I would be devistated as well. I don't know what I'd do. I would think that the hatchet would be the fastest most painless way. If I had to be the one, I would do it at night, they all seem to sleep trance-like at night.

 

[HorseFeathers]

We hooked up a cardboard box to the exhaust pipe of a car. Chicken goes in box, start up the car, chicken falls asleep and doesn't wake up.

 

[CarolAnn]

I started my adventure with chickens in April with 22 adorable hand picked chicks from our farm and ranch store. Four weeks later the neighbor's mean dog got in and killed all but 7 of them. It broke my heart to see my chicks dead all over that tank, never having had a chance. One died in my arms, another in the tank soon after. The 5 still living could barely walk and had floppy wings. One had bite wounds on the belly and back, another both legs were broken but she managed to move around using her wings. I cleaned the bite wounds with peroxide and kept a thick layer of tripple anit-biotic ointment on them as a barrier to germs, flies and keep the others from pecking at the bloody areas. The one with the broken legs became more and more exhausted having to get around on belly using her wings. Hubby kept saying "give her a couple more days". I couldn't stand watching her wear herself down and her breathing grow weaker and weaker. Finally after my hubby went to work I held her for a while and put her in a plastic trash bag, tied it shut and laid it in a box where my granddaughters wouldn't find it. An hour later I checked the bag and she was dead. I know some of you may be appauled at this method, but it was the kindest thing I could do. She would not have regained the use of two crushed legs and I couldn't leave her to die groping around on her wings. Later when my girls asked about her I just told them she'd died and the were sad but accepted it. That's all I told my husband too.

My granddaughters, 8 and 10, were at my house the day of the dog attack and thankfully we were in the house at the time. I hated them having to see me get so upset and crying, but they'd helped me fix the tank and take them out of the boxes the day I brought them home. And they came everyday they could and helped me hold each of them to get them familiar with us. I talked about how we'd loved those little chicks but they were just chickens and not people. And since I'd ordered my chicken house already we needed to get more chicks soon so they'd be big enough to put out in the nice new house when it came. The girls and I along with my daughter went that same evening and hand picked my new flock. The one with the bite wounds healed up nicely and is now my big black australorp roo. The other three healed well and they went into the coop with the second flock when the little ones were around 3 wks old. They got along fine and we moved them into their luxury coop as soon as we had it set up with fenced run and all.

Seems to me the fastest way to put them down might be to snap their necks. I'd have to take care of it the quickest least messy way possible. I have a friend who has been around chickens all his life, and I know if I needed him he'd come take care of something like this for me.

I'm awful sorry you're going thru this. I would be just sick if I had to destroy my flock. I hope you find are able to resolve this soon and can start a new flock. With all that said, I think I'll go watch my chickens for a while. I'll be thinking of you.

 

[1/2DozenWings]

We've had to euthanize one pullet---w/ Marek's disease. An old self-proclaimed chicken farmer told us to use starter fluid, which contains ether. We put our sick Cochin into a plastic cat litter bin, sprayed a liberal amount of starter fluid, then closed the lid. She just "went to sleep"....there was no movement after about 2 minutes, but we waited 1 hour just to be sure.
And then we "cremated" her (and her personal effects) in the campfire to remove the virus from our farm (yeah right). Her little bones are in an urn on top of our fireplace mantle.

I have "sacked" laboratory mice using a desiccator and carbon dioxide, which is the only USDA-accepted method of euthanization at present, so that could work, too, but you need more costly equipment, including a CO2 tank, regulator, plastic tubing, air-tight connections, etc.

There might be some muscular twitching via spinal reflexes (no brain involvement). Once the heart stops, combs, wattles and eyes will turn dark purple, that's normal.

With today's cleaner vehicles in terms of emissions, you might be spending hours trying to gas them with your tailpipe exhaust.

Sometimes life really sucks. I'm sorry. The microbial world always wins, in the end.