More humane to cull? More humane to live?

[lancasterflock]

honestly it may be better to cull. Think about it as if it were a baby. You wouldn’t want your baby to live out the rest of its life constantly starving

See that is exactly what my mind is telling me. But my heart is hurting over the decision. That’s why I needed a word outside of my own self. Thank you

 

[lancasterflock]

If it were me, I would cull. Its a sad quality of life and she can't live like a free and happy chicken. Like @JacinLarkwell said, it may even die a worse and slower death. I think it would be a good idea to cull.

Thank you for sharing this with me. This is what I was thinking myself as well. I appreciate your response

 

[JacinLarkwell]

See that is exactly what my mind is telling me. But my heart is hurting over the decision. That’s why I needed a word outside of my own self. Thank you

It's okay to hurt on this. I still give a cry about my sweet girl. But you know she'll likely never have a healthy life and a bit of your pain is better than a lot of hers

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

Thank you for sharing this with me. This is what I was thinking myself as well. I appreciate your response

glad I can help

 

[chickentrains]

If she really can't eat, it would be better to cull, as hard as it is.

 

[MysteryChicken]

There's still hope. Wait on @casportpony to help?

 

[Cecisflock]

See that is exactly what my mind is telling me. But my heart is hurting over the decision. That’s why I needed a w ord outside of my own self. Thank you

i know, it’s really, really hard. It hurts so much

 

[arwoon]

When I first noticed Drew’s crossbeak.. ( Drew, after Drew Barrymore because she talks out of the side of her mouth ) she was about a week and a half old. It was slightly curved off to the side of her mouth and I lovingly named her Drew and made plans for her to stay in my flock. As Drew has grown it appears her crossbeak is getting more and more off to the side to where it almost looks like an open pair of scissors. I have noticed that Drew cannot eat crumble at all and would have to be fed Mash the rest of her life. Still, with mash, I don’t think she is getting everything the others are getting. She is about half the size of the other F3 olive eggers in her group. She still has a lot of baby feathering too where as the others have developed a lot of their adult feathers. She is skin and bones and I’ve decided to not isolate her to eat, I just fix a large dish of mash for the entire group of 7 as if I took her away from the group...when I would go to put her back she would be bottom of the pecking order on top of having an ailment where she has to fight for food. I wanted her to be able to stand on her own. Well....now the decisions have come to if it is more humane to cull Drew as her deformity is growing worse, or is it more humane to let her live out her life constantly hungry, but getting to live? Before I made any decisions I wanted to ask y’all and see what you have to say.

Drew is a little dirty in her pictures, this is actually after I cleaned her all up after her feeding. She gets REALLY messy when she eats because she is so ravenous when the food is put down she kind of gets it all over. She still messy after being wiped down.

wanted to also add: This little boy/girl is extremely fiesty. She is definitely not one of those who will stand down, she/ he is very independent but I also feel the others have kind of understood that she has special needs and even kind of protect her which just melts my heart.
please give me any and all advice. I was crying for hours last night at the thought I may have to cull her. I have 20 other chickens that I care for. This isn’t a situation where I’m only taking care of one chicken solely.

I am so sorry, I don't know much about this, but does anyone know if this sort of thing could be surgicaly fixed? I would either go that route, (if its possible) or tube feeding(if you want to hand feed your baby for the rest of her life) or cull. It depends on how attached you are to her/him and how much you are willing to/can do for her/him. I will be thinking of you and your chickie and hopefully you can find a good answer here!

 

[THEChIcKeNwhisperer354]

I am so sorry, I don't know much about this, but does anyone know if this sort of thing could be surgicaly fixed? I would either go that route, (if its possible) or tube feeding(if you want to hand feed your baby for the rest of her life) or cull. It depends on how attached you are to her/him and how much you are willing to/can do for her/him. I will be thinking of you and your chickie and hopefully you can find a good answer here!

You can take a grinder and shape the beak back to normal just be careful with her tounge

 

[casportpony]

So sorry. I've been in your shoes with special needs chicks, so I do understand the dilemma. If she were mine and could not gain and maintain weigh on her own I would euthanize. Tube feeding is an option, but that would require tubing twice a day probably for the rest of her life.