Physically challenged chick - venting and need adavice

[chickadiddle]

OK, I know I made the big mistake
This chick should have been culled in the beginning, but I though it was splayed leg and had him suspended in a coffee can with tied legs for a week,
Where, by the way, he THRIVED beautifully.

I know

My first mistake - whole family is now attached. I wish it had just passed away quietly.

He obviously is handicapped on both legs, and is now three weeks old. I moved him to a cage in the basement where he is now suspended like a trapeze artist sitting on a sanitary napkin with food and water within reach. He is also trying to walk. One leg is twisted almost upside down, the other (his left leg) goes out to the side.

I want to cull him, badly. BUT WHY DOES HE HAVE TO EAT AND DRINK like a normal chick? He doesn't act sick.
My thought is to let him pass on his own. But that is truely cruel. I am just keeping him alive by prolonging the inevitable - I know

Back to my original reason for posting - is how humanely can I cull him using lighter fluid and a rag in a plastic baggy? Is it foolproof?
Also, has anyone had a handicapped chick live more than a few weeks or months?

 

[dragonlair]

I'm having the same issue with a little pullet I got 2 weeks ago. I lost almost 1/2 my order and this little girl (unknown breed) has a bad leg like you mentioned, splayed out to one side. I tried to tape it, etc, but nothign seems to work. I hate to think about culling her, but maybe I should. I just don't know. sigh.

 

[Heathercp]

It may seem horrible, but others have culled their birds by lopping the heads off with large garden shears or one of those branch lopper things. I can't come up with the right word for it at the moment. It's quick and certain to work the first time.

Many, many years ago, and long before I ever dreamed I would want to have chickens of my own, I cut the head off a chicken with a spade. It had been attacked by a dog and was obviously suffering. I was the only one around, and a spade was all I could find. I just thrust it through the neck and into the ground as hard as I could. It was over just like that and the chicken was out of its misery. You could just break the neck by hand since the chick is so small, but I would probably be too squeamish to do it that way.

Fast is definitely better when it comes to culling, and the whole rag in a bag thing sounds gruesome. The chick doesn't know what's coming. It's not sitting suspended in its trapeze wondering when you're going to cull it. It's just hanging out in the moment like all animals do. Pick it up, talk softly to it, and cut its head off. It's a chicken, not a person, and you've treated it very well. You can do this because you know it needs to be done.

 

[countrygirl911]

hi my hubby helps a friend out sometimes when needed with his chickens and the culling method they use is taking something and popping it on the head i threaten my hubby that is is to never do that to any of my chicks unless it is suffering but is that really a humane way to do it i think ot but thats how our frinds does it and it is quick and painless

 

[A.T. Hagan]

NOT lighter fluid. It will eventually work to use that, but it would be the same as asphyxiating on gasoline fumes. What you want is engine starter fluid which is primarily ether. Put the chick into something seal-able (I use a big butter tub) with a bit of paper toweling in the bottom. Give him a good squirt of the starter fluid (it's in an aerosol can) then seal on the lid. He'll gradually go unconscious then painlessly die. In about ten-fifteen minutes you can dispose of him.

Be careful with the spray around ignition sources. In addition to its anesthetic qualities it's also explosively flammable.

 

[dumb_cluck]

There was a post earlier today that mentioned using baking soda and vinegar? Makes CO2. to asphyxiate gradually. No sudden trauma.

Please check it out before doing the AXE thing.

 

[jerseygirl1]

My thought on the garden shears is that with myluck, they won't be sharp enough. Just what I do not need is to have it not go all the way through on the first try.

 

[chicmom]

I'm facing this problem as well, with a rooster that has very deformed feet. He gets around OK, but his toes bend to the outsides. It looks like a persons hands who has extreme arthritis, if you can picture that.

He's a pretty rooster. And his feet didn't start out that way. Don't know why they went crooked like they did--poor genetics I guess. Anyhow, he gets around fine on the grass, and sandy run, but he can't go up or down the ramp--I help him each night. But he should be culled......

I just can't wrap my head around doing the deed. I will chop off the head.....quickly. Going to have my hubby sharpen the axe......will blind fold the little guy.....I guess?

Any thoughts on making this easy? Ideas, anyone?

 

[jerseygirl1]

I had a hen who obviously had a stroke when I found her
SHe was suffering so much, I kicked myself for not having an ax - she suffered horribly
She passed after about 10 minutes after I found her - who knows how long she was there before I found her, could have been 5 or 6 hours

 

[janjan1]

I know exactly how you feel. I tried, really tried to make a handicapped chick better. No such luck. In the end, it is better to cull rather than them have no good life. I loved it til the end, and made the end very quick. With a prayer on my lips, my heart beating much too quickly, it went on it's way to the rainbow bridge.
Jan