If I can't kill a chicken...

[JoZ]

…should I avoid having them?

That’s the feeling I’m getting after doing some “Chickens 101” reading. Sentences that begin “Another important responsibility…” make me think this isn’t something to shirk.

This is a future thing, way down the road. I just was talking to someone who was getting chickens and I started browsing online, because it has always been something I wanted to do.

And there are the entire sections about killing your chickens, not just if you raise meat birds, but also in case of old age, injury, egg-eating birds, random roosters, etc. I do NOT think I could kill a chicken. I could be wrong since there are quite a few things I used to think I couldn’t do. But I don’t want to leap first, regret later. Your thoughts?

[Epona142]

If you have a chicken you don’t want, put it on CL for cheap or free.

If there is an injured chicken who needs to be relieved of her suffering, then you can choose to take it to a vet, just as you would any animal.

So I think you should certainly still get chickens. They may not be my main area of focus but I always have chickens.

[Bluey]

When it was chicken killing time, Grandma had to do it, everyone else, especially my own self, the one that took care of them, made ourselves scarce.

I would help clean, etc., just not do the deed and Grandma honored that and did it, from catching them with a stiff wire to, well, the deed.

I have had to shoot all kinds of critters and would an injured chicken in need of immediate reprieve.
Just won’t one running happily around.

You need to find you someone that will do it, if you won’t and so you can have your chickens and eventually eat them, which is why we have them.

[Megaladon]

Go get some chickens!

[Blume_Farm]

My neighbor has chickens and couldn’t kill one at 2am that had been half slaughtered by a raccoon or fox that got into the hen house. So she came to me screaming and crying at 2am with the dying chicken. I didn’t have any euthanasia solution (I’m a vet) at home so had to use a set of pruning shears to cut her head off. It was horrible, but a fast clean final death. I too can’t kill a healthy animal…although I wish I could as I constantly trap a mischievous and annoying possum in my barn eating the cat food and I worry about EPM. However, I am OK with killing something that is sick and/ or dying to end suffering. My friend learned that night after witnessing the end of suffering of her chicken that could do the deed in the future if needed. She hasn’t thankfully crossed that bridge, so she hasn’t been tested yet, but I think she could.

Point of story is sometimes we end up being able to do things we thought we couldn’t in desperate times…or make sure you have a neighbor that can do it for you:)

[quarterhorse4me]

I had to break down and do it to my chicken with a brain tumor. She had gone blind and was slowly becoming paralyzed. It was not easy but was a relief when it was done. Most of us can step up to the plate when we have to.

[cheerio280]

My dad has had chickens for several years now. The need for euthanasia has come up several times now, and he has never been able to do it. But our relative two doors down is happy to help out, so it’s never been an issue for him.

As a side note, for his first chicken that needed to be euthanized, he couldn’t bring himself to do cervical dislocation so he decided to try to gas it. Put it in a box, ran a hose to his car exhaust and let it run for a few hours… didn’t work. Thankfully the chicken didn’t seem worse for it, but definitely don’t try that!

[ladymcts]

Kind of depends on your reasons for killing … and whether it’s the actions of killing that bothers you most, or whether you fear you’d never ever want them to die in any manner whatsoever.

There’s euthanasia as others mentioned here. Things happen to living creatures, either internally or they get injured in some way that euthanasia makes the most sense. You might want to have a chat with your veterinarian about humane options that you could do yourself in an emergency. If you can’t even have that kind of a discussion, then maybe this isn’t the right thing for you.

Then there is killing for meat. There is a little bit of technique involved, and certainly it’s not fun or neat and tidy. I can totally get how you might not want to be the one to do that personally. In our area where there is also a lot of deer hunting, there are meat processors that will take your live animal and return the neat & tidy packages to you.

But if you think you’d have a problem conceptually ever letting the critter go, holding it in as high a regard as a dog, cat, or horse, well that’s awesome, and I applaud you for wanting to take that approach, but you’d better have some deep pockets for some length of life and quality of life extending.

I don’t have any chickies yet, but I hope to eventually. Eggs would be my primary interest, but I would not be pouring a lot of money into treating them like household pets. I would be seeking assistance with the meat processing end of things. We have a great farmer’s market here with a lot of egg sellers. I would probably start by reaching out to them to find out how they do their processing, and see if maybe I could hook up with one of them to do my killing for me when needed. Best of all if I could find someone who would teach me what I need to know, and let me decide from there if I could do it on my own.

[Bluey]

I think that with killing, we know it is part of the word and how humans do it is considerably more humane than how most animals handle their prey, so there is no problem there.
What makes this difficult is when you have to choose one to kill over the others and kill it.
No matter how you rationalize it is the way the world works and it is truly ok, well, some times we can’t quite convince ourselves to do it.

With chickens, we used to get a batch of 30 and half were male and so friers at a few weeks old.
The rest were layers and they lived several years and were our source of all other you do with chicken meat, so every so often one would be killed for the pot.

Today, I think you can buy sexed chickens, so you can keep them for some years before you have to make that one last use of them.

For that, OP, I bet you can find someone local that would do it for you, if you find it is something you rather not do.

[SmartAlex]

Would you not get a dog just because you couldn’t euthanize it yourself? That’s what they make vets for.

[JB]

I had a thread on this a while ago with a lot of really good information, including some tactics to do the deed.

I still couldn’t do it and ended up making a $$ trip to the vet to have it done.

sigh

Good thing we don’t have many, and that’s the only one who has needed help, though I’m sure it’s going to come up again.

Ella Chickie was “just” a chicken, but our chickens are also our pets. Just because they are chickens doesn’t mean you HAVE to go chop their heads off when it’s time

[PeanutButterPony]

A quick hit with a machete and it’s over.

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=JB;8145405]

Ella Chickie was “just” a chicken, but our chickens are also our pets. Just because they are chickens doesn’t mean you HAVE to go chop their heads off when it’s time :)[/QUOTE]

But unlike horses or other common pets, you can always justify that it is “just a chicken” and therefore always eligible for the soup pot. Not that any of OUR pets have ever ended up in the pot. I remember my mother asking our horse vet to euth a sick chicken one day when she was there for horse work. The vet did so competently and kindly… after commenting “do you know what we DO to chickens in vet school !?!” The idea of euthing a chicken was odd to her but she rose to the occasion.

[JB]

Oh, of course! I didn’t mean you have to treat them like a cat or dog in terms of what actually happens in the end. I know a great many people now who let their unwanted roosters grow up for about 6 months, then eat them. I can’t do that - we find homes for them LOL

In Ella’s case she was deteriorating (likely injury) and was not going to recover, so soup was not an option for her.

I just meant that simply because they are chickens doesn’t mean we have to chop their heads off, or eat them, it’s still perfectly fine to have them PTS like you would your cat or dog. It might get some strange looks, but my vet was more than understanding and had no problem doing it

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I made my dad come do it for me. I’m such a weenie. We had a brief lunch break and I ran home and an animal had gotten ahold of one of the hens. Luckily? she was basically in shock and it was quick. I was ready to shoot her and he just chopped her head off saying “why would you waste a shell?” Obviously he is much better at crisis than I am. He’s also a hunter, and I imagine has dealt with birds that weren’t quite dead. I appreciated his ability to quickly get it done.

I drained what I could and froze her and gave her to a friend who feeds her dogs RAW.

[Mango20]

I’m sure if that time comes you’d be able to find someone else to do it for you - a neighbor or the vet or someone. I’ve had 2 chickens at a time for about 7 years. Two have died - one was eaten by something when still a pullet, and one just turned up dead one day. My neighbors across the street kill their chickens for meat, so if there was ever a situation where I couldn’t do it myself, I’m sure they’d do it for me.

[ArabDiva]

I killed my first chicken a few weeks ago (After having kept chickens for 4+ years) and it was a pivotal moment in my life.

She was laying internally (egg yolk peritonitis) and had become very sick because of it.

I broke her neck because most sites (including BYC forums) said it was one of the easier and more humane ways to do it. It was easier to do than I thought. I was sad, but relieved.

[bathsheba8542]

Get the chickens! You will love having them.

We’ve had ours for about 8 years now (first 12, then a second set of 20), and have never had a situation where we have had to help one on it’s way. Birds are funny…it seems like they are fine until they aren’t and then they go very quickly.

[Hulk]

My chickens are pets and regarded as just as important as the dogs or cats. I don’t think its weird or unheard of to have a vet do the deed humanely. I would not give up the joy of having chickens for fear of having to put them down, same as a dog or cat.

[JoZ]

Thanks for all the information! I think I’ll be checking out/cleaning out the chicken coop at my new place…

To be clear, I just want to be able to deal with whatever happens in a timely, skillful manner. If I were to feel confident in my ability, I have no problems doing the deed, even if I ended up shedding a tear or two. I want to avoid a situation where I am too uncomfortable (not morally, more physically, as in “will this really work and be quick/painless, or am I going to screw up?”).

My new place will be 10 minutes from a family I know quite well, and I’ve already warned them I might have farm newbie questions for them, or need help (which I will gladly pay for with $$ or dinner). Before I get chickens I may have another chat with them… but it’s also very nice to hear from those of you who have had to deal with this rarely if at all.