Other ways to cull?

[Bluemonster107]

@le_bwah ... no.. wouldn’t actually do that.. I think el dorado was just throwing out other ideas

 

[le_bwah]

@le_bwah ... no.. wouldn’t actually do that.. I think el dorado was just throwing out other ideas

I get that, but someone with less good sense than you might come along and not get it. People aren't typically out looking for ways to torture animals, but some will take the first "easy" idea they hear and run with it. Like all the folks who've ever gassed their small pets incorrectly...

 

[Kris5902]

Can you do a cervical dislocation on them? My father used to do this with small birds that would be too badly injured to survive from a window collision. Not sure quite how “big” your quail are... basically he held the body in one hand with the head sticking out between his fingers, held the head with the other hand and did a sharp jerk breaking the neck backwards. Like the broomstick method but miniturized.

 

[Bluemonster107]

@Kris5902 ... well that is interesting... not sure if this is “easy” or not... but kinda made me giggle as I have some stupid birds that do that same thing here! They kamikaze right into my house windows... I mean c’mon... my windows are not that clean!! Lol

 

[CoturnixComplex]

@Kris5902 ... well that is interesting... not sure if this is “easy” or not... but kinda made me giggle as I have some stupid birds that do that same thing here! They kamikaze right into my house windows... I mean c’mon... my windows are not that clean!! Lol

It is "easy" in the sense that if you do it with conviction the only potential issue will be accidentally taking the head off. They are pretty delicate. I still think using shears will be easier for everyone (feels less personal even if slightly more gory), and if you're worried about losing nutrients from blood loss you could always, er, do the deed over a bowl of any of his other food, and throw the head back in with it.

x2 Chilling is one that sounds nice in theory but the reality is that damage is usually done to the extremities before the core temp lowers sufficiently to send them off (it's debatably more humane for fish, where the water helps cool their body temp more evenly, but even then there are much better methods, like clove oil).

 

[Fishkeeper]

Since it's for a tegu, I'd just take the heads off. He'd probably eat a bowl of chopped bird.

I might pluck a lot of the bigger feathers out, though, especially the ones on the wings. I'm not sure it'd be good for him to eat a lot of feathers on a regular basis.

And chilling isn't considered humane for fish any more, it was evaluated and deemed not likely to be humane. It's extremely uncomfortable for them at best, and runs a risk of ice crystals forming in the body before they're unconscious. Freezing is only appropriate for invertebrates, and even the only the ones that don't feel pain.

 

[Kris5902]

A slight aside, but perhaps someone here knows... how do they prepare mice (pinkies/fuzzies etc) for frozen reptile/snake feed? I never really thought about that before this post, and considering how important humanely raised/slaughtered meat animals are to me, I’m now a little ashamed of my oversight.

 

[Bluemonster107]

A slight aside, but perhaps someone here knows... how do they prepare mice (pinkies/fuzzies etc) for frozen reptile/snake feed? I never really thought about that before this post, and considering how important humanely raised/slaughtered meat animals are to me, I’m now a little ashamed of my oversight.

Yea... how do they prepare the pinkies and such??? I buy frozen.. didn’t even look at how they do it

 

[Willowspirit]

Maybe they use something like a blast chiller? Colder and faster than a household freezer?

that is a gorgeous lizard btw.

 

[Celticdragonfly]

There's an article here on how to euthanize using ether from starter fluid
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...injured-and-sick-babies.72140/#comment-504438

Don't know how well that would work for a bird that's going to be eaten.