What to do with chickens after they pass

lissalischicks

Crowing
8 Years
Jan 31, 2016
589
1,120
286
Los Angeles, California
So I was wondering what people do with their chickens that pass. I will not be eating my chickens so they will hopefully live a full life and pass on peacefully. I don't want to just throw them in the trash or don't think it is feasible to bury each one. Sorry to bring such a morbid thought but I just realized I don't know what to do with them once they go and I am freaking out a bit..... just want to know what other people do. Thanks
 
Trust me, it is good to plan in advance. I lost a pullet after only owning her for about a month. I didn't expect to lose one so soon. I hadn't made plans. I foolishly thought every chicken I ever own would live to be a senior citizen. My husband called me when I was at work to tell me when he got home one of the chickens was dead. He called to ask me what he should do with her body because he knew it shouldn't just stay in the coop and something had to be done immediately. He was willing to do something for me, but what? I had to make an instant decision and to this day I don't know if it was the right one. We live in town and she went into a plastic bag and into the trash can. I don't know exactly why she died, stressed and sick, and didn't want to risk other animals (wild animals or my own dogs/cats) digging her up and them getting sick or spreading disease or disease lingering in the soil on the property. I sometimes think about what I will do next time one passes. I'm still not sure.
 
I bury dead chickens under the compost pile that is out in the field. That compost pile is there to improve the soil in that location, so it probably will not be moved. We have a tractor so it is pretty easy to shove the compost aside, dig a hole, drop her in, fill in the hole and move the compost back. I have only had 2 chickens to bury so far, so this has worked for us.
That probably does not help you though.
 
If you live in an area with enough space to keep chickens, then you should plausibly have enough space to bury a dead chicken.

I have always given mine a proper burial. Never considered eating them because I could never verify the cause of death. And if a predator got one, well... no body to eat.

Anyways, the trash is okay. I had to garbage almost an entire shipment of hatchery chicks who had been--- criminally delayed a day in the mail... Anyway, I wouldn't want to put an adult bird in the garbage unless it was trash pickup day because of-- animals raiding the garbage, or flies laying eggs, or otherwise, a juicy mess in the bottom of my can. You get the picture.

Burial is usually the easiest way to deal with the grief. You tenderly dig a hole and lay him or her inside very carefully. And then cover them up... "Tuck them in for their forever sleep" if you will. They came from the earth, they should rest peacefully in the earth next to the coop. (I always buried them next to the coop)

It was their home after all. My darlings don't belong in a landfill. They belong near their coop.
 
I toss them over a ridge on my property for the scavengers to take care of. I've laid many a bird to rest there. Seems callus? Maybe, but what made them loved has left them, so I don't see a point in sticking their body in a freezer so I can bury them in summer. I am sure the woods animals are thankful.

I have more land than many so I can see how this wouldn't work too well if you live in the city, but I figured I'd put it out there anyway. If you try it, careful not to toss them too near the coop.

I've been thinking of constructing a burial pit with a hatch. I'd also dump remains of butchering day in there.
 
We bury our most special birds but we also have built a small cinder block incinerator type thing. I'd have to ask DH2B exactly what it's called. Super easy and it works really well.

I don't like the thought but after two years of predator attacks our yard was beginning to fill up and we had to make a decision. Also for us here it is highly frowned upon maybe even illegal to place a dead animal in the trash.

Also not to sound cold or bring up something hard to think of. Another option if you live in a rural community or farm land or by a woods, or own enough land yourself is to designate a dumping area.

There may be a privately owned area often land that's not farmable that small animals, even road kill, may be dumped at and left for nature to take care of. I can not say as to if this practice is illegal or not I just know it happens. Of course it would be irresponsible to put any kind of animal out there if it died of contractible illness or disease. Also a dead bird in the woods once in a while is a far cry from large animals or large amounts of animals frequently, as that can breed flies and disease. It's also important that if there is such a place it isn't near houses and is well away from other animals.
 
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So I was wondering what people do with their chickens that pass. I will not be eating my chickens so they will hopefully live a full life and pass on peacefully. I don't want to just throw them in the trash or don't think it is feasible to bury each one. Sorry to bring such a morbid thought but I just realized I don't know what to do with them once they go and I am freaking out a bit..... just want to know what other people do. Thanks

I have a lot of land, when a chicken dies I usually take it out into the woods and leave it for the wildlife. I have dogs but I do not feed them the dead birds if I am not sure how they died, if a bird is killed by a predator the dogs get what remains, if it is found dead in the coop I put it in the woods. I don't want my dogs to get sick. I will bury a chicken if it is one that I really liked and I can't bring myself to feed it to animals. I do not get a lot of dead birds though, so this is not really a big problem that I have to deal with often.
 
I toss them over a ridge on my property for the scavengers to take care of. I've laid many a beloved bird to rest there. Seems callus? Maybe, but what makes them loved has left them, so I don't see a point in sticking them in a freezer so I can bury them in summer. I am sure the woods animals are thankful.

I have more land than many so I can see how this wouldn't work too well if you live in the city, but I figured I'd put it out there anyway. If you try it, careful not to toss them too near the coop.

My concern with this method is drawing scavengers and predators closer to the coop, after which they might take a taste for live chicken. I suppose this doesn't worry you much?
The ground freezes here in PA too, so I am not able to bury them in the winter time either. I was always able to bury them in South Alabama.
 

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