Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

How do you all feel about giving mercy to a dying animal? Hastening the death to prevent any further suffering.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

I like to sit with the dead.
I like to be there when they die.
It's not a morbid thing. I find it helps with the feelings of loss. There is no horror in it. We may die in a horrible manner but death puts an end to suffering and like birth, should be seen as a positive thing.
We have all sorts of problems with death in modern western society. We are constantly trying to prevent it and when it does happen the whole process is hidden away and the ceremonies after death has come and gone are for the living and most I find hypocritical.

With chickens it's extreme at both ends of live for the majority now. Hatched in incubators, killed by machines, many never even experiencing the wonders of nature. Disgusting really.
Ella had a good death. I would be happy to die just where she did with the same company.

I love this picture, both in fact. Just behind these two lies Ella. Maybe the chickens can see death walking up the allotments.
View attachment 3555053

A peaceful journey to Ella Here's to her abiding curiosity and confidence, against all odds after how she spent the first part of her life.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

@no fly zone I'm truly sorry.

In a way, we're all losing Skeksis because of how you shared her with us. She stood out not only because of her looks but because of how you regarded her. If we could see how much you loved her, she obviously knew. Will miss seeing her face.

 

[Sequel]

She fought hard, but my poor sweet Skeksis took her last breath this morning. She will be buried beside her beloved Mr. Bumble. I am absolutely devastated. I have never had a pet like her and never will again.

I’m so sorry!!! She was very very special!

 

[HiEverybirdy]

My goodness, it's been a busy few weeks for the chicken ferryman for the folks on this thread.

No kidding. DH thinks I have allergies from as often as I come out of the study with red eyes lately.

If I'm being honest, I'm still not quite over Sven's departure. @Perris - sending good thoughts to Chirk. I hope someone with experience can provide some insights.

 

[GregnLety]

She fought hard, but my poor sweet Skeksis took her last breath this morning. She will be buried beside her beloved Mr. Bumble. I am absolutely devastated. I have never had a pet like her and never will again.

My condolences. We know and she knew how much you loved her.

 

[TropicalChickies]

How do you all feel about giving mercy to a dying animal? Hastening the death to prevent any further suffering.

Warning: graphic description of a death for anyone who may want to skip this

It's not easy. I've done it twice in the past year. To our sweet puppy Suki who contracted a pneumonia fatal to young dogs and suffered a grand mal seizure, that had she survived, would have left her blind, deaf, and paralyzed until she had another one. We were able to find a vet to give the injection (IV injections are difficult) but I also convinced him to show me exactly how to do it and bought tranquilizer and a vial of the stuff so I would be equipped to do it myself on another dog if I had to. It's in a very safe place. That might sound crazy to Americans or Europeans, but here vets realize that if your animal gets poisoned or snake bite and is convulsing, you can't always get into a town to avail of their service. A tree could be down on the road. There could be a monsoon. Lots of things.

I've only ever put one chicken down myself and that was a 2.5 year old hen named Lita. Joanie's death via suffocation from her lungs failing was drawn out because I just didn't know what to do and I swore I wouldn't let that happen again if I could help it. Joanie commanded a lot of respect from the flock and Cleo and Butchie sat with her for the entire day that she was gasping for breath But she didn't die until late at night when they had gone to roost and I was the only one there. I always felt like I should have ended her suffering at dusk that day.

So I had one of our farm helpers show me exactly how to do it in what I thought would be the most painless way I could handle without error -- cutting the throat with a scalpel and bleeding the animal out. (I don't trust myself to do the neck breaking thing -- I could hesitate in the moment and cause the chicken more pain). I went to their farm to see it. And yes, it is somewhat brutal, but if you suspend the bird properly in a cone, the chicken passes out within barely a second of the incision and bleeds out. There's none of the infamous running around without a head spouting blood spectacle.

Poor Lita's problem would have been seen as a boon to a more production minded keeper. She laid enormous eggs, almost every day, at least two double yolkers per week. And she was not a big hen, her pelvic bones were quite narrow. So she prolapsed repeatedly, every few weeks I would have to clean the prolapsed mass and put in back in. I cut her rations to try and reduce her laying cycle. This went on for a year and a half. At some point, the mass simply wouldn't stay inside her body and naturally became infected. I gave her oxytetracycline, but it was irreparable at that point, she was suffering horribly -- convulsing and literally shitting all over herself and I don't think anyone wants to linger in such a undignified and painful manner-- so I did what I had learned to do in that situation. She had no idea who or where she was at the moment, and she passed out immediately upon the incision.

Cherie and Cleo also were in that first group of sick chickens, and I'm actually happy they lived to be four years old and their deaths were quick, probably heart attack from what I've read.

If the chicken is simply fading away, and is in the company of friends, I would let them pass on their own. But I think (I hope) I did the right thing by Lita.

I guess one way to find peace with it is to ask, how would I want to die? If one's answer is, I would hope someone would take me out of this awful suffering, then I think one is obliged to offer that service to an animal.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I like to sit with the dead.
I like to be there when they die.
It's not a morbid thing. I find it helps with the feelings of loss. There is no horror in it. We may die in a horrible manner but death puts an end to suffering and like birth, should be seen as a positive thing.
We have all sorts of problems with death in modern western society. We are constantly trying to prevent it and when it does happen the whole process is hidden away and the ceremonies after death has come and gone are for the living and most I find hypocritical.

With chickens it's extreme at both ends of live for the majority now. Hatched in incubators, killed by machines, many never even experiencing the wonders of nature. Disgusting really.
Ella had a good death. I would be happy to die just where she did with the same company.

I love this picture, both in fact. Just behind these two lies Ella. Maybe the chickens can see death walking up the allotments.
View attachment 3555053

Yes, I do as well. I like to fill the space with love. I like for the dying to know they will be missed, but are free to go. I like to wonder where the spirit/life energy/Animus --whatever it is -- goes. Einstein was a great aficionado of different spiritual philosophies, and many of his biographers say that his works on energy were greatly inspired by how systems other than Western view death. His view that energy cannot expire, but only take another form is one example.

And yes, modern Western society has denied the actually quite wondrous mystery of death and turned it into some dirty thing one sticks in a drawer.

I wouldn't say I'm a Tibetan Buddhist, but when I read "The Book of the Dead" many years ago, it made so much more sense! There's nothing morbid or depressing about it at all. The whole gist is that if one accepts and acknowledges that death is always imminent, then one lives each day in a manner that does justice to being alive, and dies with no, or at least far fewer, regrets.

 

[Perris]

How do you all feel about giving mercy to a dying animal? Hastening the death to prevent any further suffering.

I take it on a case by case basis. If a chicken is clearly suffering and there is no realistic hope of recovery, then I think euthanasia is the kindest last service the keeper can perform. But it can be very difficult to decide whether or not that point has been reached. I have seen birds recover from apparently hopeless positions - in Sven's case giving him another 3 years of mostly good quality life. And personally for people I am in favour of assisted dying; our current law forces some unfortunates to undergo a fate that they think is - literally not metaphorically - worse than death. We prosecute people for doing the same to dogs. Maybe self-identifying as a dog is the way to go in this mad modern world

Chirk's comb and wattles are nice and red, he's eating and pooing well, has no visible parasites, and it's not at all obvious to me that, thus far at least, he's 'suffering' - he just can't get up off his side. He can lift his head, he's got a nice quiet warm room to himself (and the dog doesn't mind his bed being shifted to the lounge) and is checked on and attended to many times a day. Maria has popped in to see him a few times. But he's getting no exercise or normal diet, so his digestive system will start creaking sooner or later, and it's already hard to keep his back end clean and his skin good. If my diagnosis is right and there is no hope of recovery, then my actions are just prolonging his death, so I should end it before any/more suffering occurs I think. But I may be wrong. His problem may be something else. Or maybe chickens' famous powers of recovery will triumph again. That's why I asked for any good recovery stories. Hope gets in the way of a rational decision. And of course in Chirk's case, even if he made a full recovery, his future is very uncertain because he will never resume his place as dom in this flock. So, my long answer is, it's complicated.

 

[no fly zone]

I take it on a case by case basis. If a chicken is clearly suffering and there is no realistic hope of recovery, then I think euthanasia is the kindest last service the keeper can perform. But it can be very difficult to decide whether or not that point has been reached. I have seen birds recover from apparently hopeless positions - in Sven's case giving him another 3 years of mostly good quality life. And personally for people I am in favour of assisted dying; our current law forces some unfortunates to undergo a fate that they think is - literally not metaphorically - worse than death. We prosecute people for doing the same to dogs. Maybe self-identifying as a dog is the way to go in this mad modern world

Chirk's comb and wattles are nice and red, he's eating and pooing well, has no visible parasites, and it's not at all obvious to me that, thus far at least, he's 'suffering' - he just can't get up off his side. He can lift his head, he's got a nice quiet warm room to himself (and the dog doesn't mind his bed being shifted to the lounge) and is checked on and attended to many times a day. Maria has popped in to see him a few times. But he's getting no exercise or normal diet, so his digestive system will start creaking sooner or later, and it's already hard to keep his back end clean and his skin good. If my diagnosis is right and there is no hope of recovery, then my actions are just prolonging his death, so I should end it before any/more suffering occurs I think. But I may be wrong. His problem may be something else. Or maybe chickens' famous powers of recovery will triumph again. That's why I asked for any good recovery stories. Hope gets in the way of a rational decision. And of course in Chirk's case, even if he made a full recovery, his future is very uncertain because he will never resume his place as dom in this flock. So, my long answer is, it's complicated.

Hope he recovers.