When your chickens get old and die...

Thats a good idea. Guess ill check in on that when it starts getting warm....As i said in my last post my old girls are still active and eating. Ill need to watch them closely because i dont want them to suffer. If i do face having to put them down what are the best options?? I will not be able to do it unless its an emergency and will enlist the help of a friend.
 
Well, when I have to put down or process chickens, I use cones like in this picture (This is not my set up, it is a friends)
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You can put them in a cone and the blood rushes to their head and they calm down, and then once they are calm, you can slit the jugular. I consider that a calm and humane way to put them down, whatever you do, don't chop their head off and let them run around the yard! You could also have a veterinarian put them down, but that will cost money.
 
Well, when I have to put down or process chickens, I use cones like in this picture (This is not my set up, it is a friends)

You can put them in a cone and the blood rushes to their head and they calm down, and then once they are calm, you can slit the jugular. I consider that a calm and humane way to put them down, whatever you do, don't chop their head off and let them run around the yard! You could also have a veterinarian put them down, but that will cost money.

We use this system. The last time we culled it was just one rooster, as I had been attacked quite savagely earlier in the day. He was asleep when my husband went into the coop to grab him, and he never even woke up. It was completely quiet, quick and humane.
 
it is hard to say.. but the "merciful death" by culling is useful like one said for good meat and to avoid carrying disease.

But be assured when a pet begins to slow down eating or not walk so much at the end of their life it is not painful other than for the person watching them go.

In my opinion, I have not had a "non-predator" chicken death yet but have owned many pets for my whole life. At the end of life we slow down.. we stop eating and our body adapts.. it is not painful.. but again painful to watch for those who care for them.

If someone will use the meat and benefit from the use of it or if you suspect disease or need the space or whatever.. then you choose... but letting an old girl slow down.. be comfortable and sleep forever is neither painful nor cruel.... I think it is respectful and caring...


just the opinion of a long term pet owner but pretty new chicken mom.. my chicks are pets.. pets that make my breakfast which is a clear bonus...
 
But be assured when a pet begins to slow down eating or not walk so much at the end of their life it is not painful other than for the person watching them go.


Sorry, but how do you know that? I'm thinking the reason they don't walk is because they hurt.

I'm a nurse and have worked geriatrics/ long term care more years than I care to admit. "Natural" death isn't being perfectly fine one day and just going to sleep and not waking up. That time of not eating, not being able to move, lots of folks say they hurt. A lot. If humans, who can speak, beg me for medication for their suffering, or to end their suffering....why would an animal not be feeling the same thing? It's legal to euthanize an animal that's suffering. Why would you drag it out? Is that extra 2-3 days it lives really worth it's probable suffering?
 
Quote: Well stated. I see the same thing every day that I work in a nursing home. Death is very rarely a simply going to sleep and waking up dead. There is suffering involved. And I believe that we are pretty egocentric if we believe that we are suffering more for the watching of it than the person/animal who is going through it.
 
everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I have worked in hospice with patients for a long time.. over 20 years.. I never said that anything goes to perfectly fine and then skips off to sleep forever. There are many reasons why we die disease, and chronic painful conditions.. I am totally not denying that.. she stated her birds were very healthy just old and slowing down.

You both have seen a lot of suffering I know and I appreciate everything you do to care for your patients and to keep them comfortable. God Bless you for what you do. My research and experience give me a different opinion. Everyone has the right to theirs.

Thank you for letting me have mine..
 
Man I wouldn't be able to do the cone method.... I don't know why but it just seems like it takes too long.... I would feel terrible.

Anyone ever use a gouillotine and just hug them through the nerve-stuff so they don't go running around?
 
And when the time comes that they are starving because they can no longer eat? Laying there gasping for breath?
Death is not pretty or kind when it happens. It rarely involves happily scratching about.

I vote for a quick end while still healthy enough to go in a stock pot.

Having lost a few to age I would be very grateful to a neighbor that was willing to help.

I agree. I've had to have 3 dogs put down due to age and suffering over the years. While I cried to do it, I knew it was the last act of kindness I could do for my friend, so I took them to the vet and had it done. They are buried down by the pond where they loved to swim and play.

I feel the same about my chickens - if I notice my older hens looking droopy and they are not doing well, away they go. My original flock is about 5 years old now, and my remaining RIR was spry and lively one day and then I found her dead in the coop the next - not a mark on her. I guess she died and fell off the roost! At any rate, it's not always easy to tell when they might go. I understand not wanting to kill your pets, but sometimes, that's the kindest way to handle it.
 

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