[rachelr]

I have been given a wonderful piece of information to help put down our poorly hens. I do not think that it would be ok for meat chicks.

Find a plastic box with a air tight lid. spray a large amount of 'easy start' (for cars it contains ether )onto a piece of kitchen towel. Place the poorly chick in the box and close the lid securley. They will then go to sleep and die peacefully and quickly.

[joyfull]

sorry Rachel but I do not like this idea of gasing the bird.

Here are the COSSH details for easy start

http://www.mbpinc.com/html/pdf/products/pcr/MSDS_EasSt.pdf

As you are local if you need to be shown a couple of methods when you have an ill bird let me know and I will show you how I do it.

[rachelr]

It is much better than getting it wrong and then hurting the hens.  Thats how they anaethatise us in the OR so why not the chickens.

Personal choice I suppose I just thought it would be worth a mention.

[Vecten]

Suffocating a chicken to death is probably not the best way to cull.

[rachelr]

apparently the ether puts them to sleep before they suffocate so no struggles or twitches etc

[Vecten]

Killing a bird is unpleasant and I can see why you would prefer to use a less 'hands on' method. Putting a bird in a box and walking away.

Look at it this way, ether has its uses as an anaesthetic but no one uses it to kill, neither vets nor executioners. Injection is the preferred method. Anyway, we stopped using ether as an anaesthetic 70 years ago because of its unreliability.

[joyfull]

this link shows the legal gas mixes for culling birds:-


http://www.hsa.org.uk/Resources/Publications/Technical%20Notes/TN12.pdf

and all the safeguards that needs to be in place.

[Aunt Sally]

If you get the concentration of ether to high in the box the chickens lungs will fill with liquid in response, the chicken will then drown and struggle to fight for air while it dies fairly slowly.  It will not become unconcious through being anaesthetised as its lungs are now full of liquid and so cannot absorb the ether.

[alancane]

I personally couldn't suffocate or chemically gas one of my girls. If and when the time comes I need to alleviate any stress or pain from them as soon as possible and not increase it.

As much as it is going to hurt me to do it, I have to remove my own feelings and alleviate theirs.

Nothing good ever came from chemical gas fumes.

[8doubles]

I personally couldn't suffocate or chemically gas one of my girls. If and when the time comes I need to alleviate any stress or pain from them as soon as possible and not increase it.

As much as it is going to hurt me to do it, I have to remove my own feelings and alleviate theirs.

Nothing good ever came from chemical gas fumes.

I take it your car and cooker are solar powered.

I agree though, learn to cull by hand and spend the easy start money on mealworms for the rest of the flock.

[alancane]

My cooker is run on electricity and if you saw my driving you would also agree that nothing good will come of it either  lol   

[rachelr]

Ok so no one seems to like my method. BUT the birds dont struggle they go to sleep so there is no flitting and flapping. I find this worse as its hard to actually know when thy are dead. Putting them to sleep this way and then snapping their necks is much preferable to hanging onto them for dear life and wondering if they have actually died???

[Aunt Sally]

Have you used this method Rachel ?

[rachelr]

Aunt Sally no and i dont think i need to as i am gonna get a dispatcher on pay day. Like a stupid person i thought it would be easier for some people who struggle. The person I know who does assures me they are asleep in seconds.

thanks

[Aunt Sally]

You're not a stupid person so please don't think that.  You just lack a little knowledge.

I've used a similar method when I worked in microbiology research to euthanise mice.  It is quick but you have to be careful to regulate the oxygen/ether mix and decrease the oxygen when they become unconscious, otherwise they don't die of the anaesthetic but go from straight from conscious to suffocating with the liquid in their lungs immediatly which is very unpleasant for them.