really need advice but, please don't preach

[Renee']

Please have your husband cull the bird as soon as possible. It is in pain and it doesn't have any quality of life, not to mention the stress and misery it's causing you.

I had a similar situation however I didn't raise the bird, it was given to me with two other birds. I couldn't stand to watch it suffer so I waited until it was calm and sleeping then I went out in the dark so I didn't have to really see it and I used the broom stick/neck dislocation method and it was done.

Good luck, it's never easy but it's occasionally necessary.

 

[Cherstin]

When I searched, this was the method that came up as being the least "hands-on." I'm no wizened, leathery farmhand ... I'm a stay-at-home mom who scoured the internet for "humane ways to cull." The method used explained that the chicks pass out from hypothermia and essentially fall asleep. If I'm wrong, please forgive my ignorance. I'm not a mean person, but you sure have made me feel like I've done something terribly wrong now.

Falling asleep sounds a lot nicer to me than an attempted neck-break which may or may not work, considering I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

[speckledhen]

I have never successfully fixed a slipped tendon, sorry to say. Wish I had better news for you.

 

[chicmom]

So sorry to hear what you're going through.....Ask hubby to "take care" of it for you.......

He'll figure it out. One quick chop and it'll be over.

 

[Beekissed]

Cherstin, you're not wrong nor are you mean....you just haven't seen a lot of death, I imagine. Hypothermia is not a gentle sleep when one is tiny, young, wet and can't get any air....then passes out. The body goes through some major changes in hypothermia. I've been hypothermic before and it just isn't pleasant....very uncomfortable and I can't even imagine how bad it gets until you actually pass out from it.

Forgive me for sounding judgemental, it wasn't intentional at all, but the internet isn't always the answer when looking up humane solutions. Most people out there just aren't that familiar with the dying process enough to give advice.

I've been a hospice nurse for the past three years so my antennae are unusually sensitive to death and dying, so please forgive me if I sounded put off by that particular kind of death for a young animal...I'm not a mushy animal lover, by any means.

 

[Olive Hill]

If you squeezed all the air out of the plastic bag and sealed it tight the chick probably suffocated long before hypothermia set in. I'd go with just the suffocation if given only a choice of the two. But that's me.

I'm all for quick, as-painless-as-possible culling methods but we can't deny that some people just do not have it in them to cut a chick's head off or break its neck. In those cases I suppose just about any method is a lesser amount of suffering than the alternative of not doing it. Take the OP's chick for instance, it's been suffering for 6 weeks. I don't care if you put the chick in the freezer dry and outside a sealed plastic bag, it'd still die sooner than six weeks later. We get all up in arms over a couple minutes of additional suffering -- and I agree in an ideal world those extra minutes wouldn't happen -- but then we conveniently forget how vehemently opposed we are to suffering and pat people on the back for "trying" when it comes to "saving" birds. A bit hypocritical for my tastes, but what do I know?

 

[Beekissed]

I agree with the hypocrisy of "trying" to keep a bird alive when it is in obvious pain and then looking for a humane death....I've seen it over and over on this forum and I've never agreed with this at all.

But...basing your killing on what is comfortable for the human as opposed to comfortable for the animal is also hypocrisy....you signed up for the job of raising these animals and part of raising them is giving them a merciful end if need be. Your comfort level be hanged, IMO....getting all weak-kneed when it comes time to do a dirty job is just another form of hypocrisy.

 

[anderson8505]

Quote:
From what I've read it is supposed to be like falling asleep. Don't let them make you feel bad, you do the best you can. Even if the original coldness is painful it doesn't last long and it's better than suffering a long time.

Would someone please put me in the freezer if I get terminal cancer, I've watched it slowly kill someone and I'm not up for that. I'm not sure where you can get a ziploc that big.

Sorry, just trying to make you laugh.

As far as the original post, do the best YOU can for YOUR chick. I have had to face bad situations with pets at a time when I had no money, it's tough.

 

[Olive Hill]

I absolutely agree with you, Bee. It's another one of those ideals v reality things again though. Ideally people wouldn't take on responsibilities they don't have the wherewithal to properly follow through on. We know that to not be the case at all though and see the evidence on BYC every day. So, realistically, if you've got to do it and you've already taken it on we can't very well put the chick back in the egg so just get it over with in whatever manner you can muster and please, please learn from the experience.

 

[Spinster_Sister]

if you are going to cull your chick and cannot do it yourself, go to your local vet and make sure they give it the shot, be there with it to help it on it's way.