Update: Pet hen needs to be put down humanely. I need to know how.

[CountryMom]

Quote:
I assume you are not going to cook her as she is ill. Benadryl will put her to sleep if you can get her to eat it crumpled up. I had to use it for a dog that was bitten by a snake a couple years back. And she did fall asleep even though her face was swollen. I was lucky and she survived the attack.

Our vet recommended 3 adult benedryl the first time our dog ever got bit by a snake. She is a 45 pound dog. It didn't come close to putting her to sleep, but it did help the reaction to the snake bite and she has survived. Actually survived 5 bites to date.

chikn...Sent you a pm. Good luck

 

[chiknlittle]

No, we don't eat the injured or mysterious death cases. We have plenty of meat birds in the freezer for that purpose. Most likely she will have a place of honor buried near the other pets with a paver stone and an engraved marker. (okay that sounds creepy and expensive, but it's under $15 if you get the paver from Lowe's and a simple marker from a trophy shop) I guess that's part of the reason I'd like to keep her head intact. Call me crazy... most people do.

 

[picklespickles]

oh. i loved your last post. wonderful. that's like me. able to eat my animals but also sentimental, too.

 

[ruth]

I have just seen the updates on this thread and I am so sorry the other two pecked her so badly. I thought it was the 7 white ones you got rid of that were doing the pecking. If you don't really want to cull her you could probably save her. I've sewn up chickens and ducks with terrible injuries and they heal just fine. That being said, I can also understand you wanting to cull but if she is your favorite and you don't mind investing more time in her, you can always try and save her first.

But, as someone else posted, you need to address why you have this cannibalism going on especially if you got rid of the prior batch of birds that were doing it and now it's starting over. I'm not sure if I understood how large the run was. Is there vegetation and such in there that they can scratch around in. I know the small coop was really small but I thought they only slept there. You will need a large enough run and something for the birds to do during the day. I have over a 100 birds of every age all free ranging and no one bothers anyone else. There are babies at one week old running free with adults and teens and even peacocks so I'm at a loss to understand pecking one another to death but maybe it's because mine have so much room to get out of each other's face.

I'm so sorry. If she were mine and a favorite, I would try and save her. A wound is just a wound and will most likely heal. Wash it with betadine, apply Neosporin, spray with Furall and give it a little time.

 

[Suellyn]

It's a double-edged sword, isn't it? The rewards of being emotionally involved vs. the trauma of situations like this... You have done SO MUCH for her, and the way I view it, are now going to provide the final kindness for her, at the expense of your own emotions (highly FUNCTIONAL love.. anyone can snuggle a chick, but not everyone can do what you are going to do for her).

I think CO2 would work in her case even if she is over 2 lbs, like danischi24 said, I think that is recommended so people don't struggle with a larger & stronger animal, the result could be pretty inhumane & ineffective.

Your girl is underweight, weak, and VERY compromised, I don't think there is much risk of major struggle. You could also use some benadryl to further sedate her if you choose, prior to using CO2 (or any other euthanasia method).

I have used CO2 euthanasia, and I'm sure this is mentioned in the article (scanned it but did not read fully), but one thing to remember is that CO2 is HEAVIER than air, it will fill the chamber from the bottom up, so keeping her lower is faster/better.

I am sorry for your situation, my heart goes out to you... Follow your heart, we can all advise, but this is a very personal situation/decision, and one that you should TRULY have no guilt over if you put her out of her misery.

 

[WalkingWolf]

Quote:
I assume you are not going to cook her as she is ill. Benadryl will put her to sleep if you can get her to eat it crumpled up. I had to use it for a dog that was bitten by a snake a couple years back. And she did fall asleep even though her face was swollen. I was lucky and she survived the attack.

Our vet recommended 3 adult benedryl the first time our dog ever got bit by a snake. She is a 45 pound dog. It didn't come close to putting her to sleep, but it did help the reaction to the snake bite and she has survived. Actually survived 5 bites to date.

chikn...Sent you a pm. Good luck

I don't know that the benadryl put her to sleep as much as it let her go to sleep. She is 100# wolf so I used 4 if I remember right. It may also been due to the toxin from the cotton mouth. Benadryl does put me to sleep though it takes it hours before it hits me.

 

[picklespickles]

sue ellen is right on the money. managing your flock is a "highly FUNCTIONAL love.. anyone can snuggle a chick, but not everyone can do what you are going to do for her."

the original poster said clearly that she had more and larger birds in the same set up before AND that she was going to be making some changes.

how about let's go with what she desires right now and not let our own issues get in the way. i've never had this happen in my flock, either and mine are completely free range by the way, not locked up ever (they even sleep in the trees), BUT that is not really pertinent to her situation. neither is what i might do. she said what she needed to do and asked us for humane ways of doing this. i have tried to come up with answers to her question.

 

[WildBurroShirts.com]

This is so sad, the entire situation: for you, for the bird, for the ones doing it...

My heart goes out to all of you.

I guess I'm not understanding the disability part, so I'm not sure what to suggest. If you can drive, you could perhaps wrap her a towel and try and take her to a local farmer or someone?

If not...if I couldn't bring myself to do the hatchet there's a possibility in her condition that being struck in the back of the head with a hammer (she wouldn't see it coming, so humane) would at least knock her out and then you could put her in a plastic bag once she was out and hit her again.

I'm not sure what else you can do, but I do want you to know that we ALL sympathize with you and wish you the best on this.

I'm so sorry.

 

[Wifezilla]

Ok, this is what I would do. I have a small round cooler that seals pretty tight. I would place the hen in there and close it up then put the cooler in a plastic bag and seal that. The hen will calm down if it is in the dark, and then just get sleepy and pass away.