Euthanasia can be a tough subject for a farmer who has dedicated months and sometimes years to nurturing their birds, but the last thing anyone wants is to leave a bird suffering while the farmer scrambles to figure out how to put it out of its misery both humanely and quickly.
The hard truth is that if you’re going to raise poultry, you need to have an end of life plan for when things go wrong. The key is to do the thinking before the situation arises. and develop a plan for what to do, and when.
When to euthanize
Deciding when to euthanize is just as important as how to euthanize; poultry can’t tell you how they are feeling, and a sick bird often won’t look or act unwell until they are very seriously ill. It’s up to the farmer to use best judgement to determine when to humanely euthanize a bird, and to do so as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Through poultry management, a farmer will typically have regular contact with their birds, and should notice when something is off with one of the flock. Poultry can suffer injuries or sicknesses that don’t respond to treatment, at which point it’s time for the farmer to step in and make the tough decisions.
The conditions under which a farmer may choose to euthanize a bird include sick or injured birds who are visibly suffering, in pain and/or unable to eat and drink. Sometimes a farmer euthanizes in order to keep disease from spreading to the rest of the flock, or because the bird in question is no longer productive enough to warrant keeping it.
A sick or injured bird doesn’t necessarily mean its days are automatically numbered; the initial instinct for a farmer can be to try to remedy the situation, but this may not always be a good thing. Depending on the situation, such care can not only prolong the inevitable, but it could result in a bird suffering through even more pain and discomfort than necessary.
How to euthanize humanely
The key word in this section is “humanely.” Virtually anyone can quickly and easily kill a bird, but when you’re a farmer whose birds have been giving their all for months, and sometimes years, you want to give them a good end. When euthanizing poultry, it’s less about the actual killing of a bird, and more about how that life ends.
There are always stories circulating about the “helicopter method” (swinging the bird by the neck to snap its neck) or euthanizing by freezing (literally dropping birds in a freezer to die), but these methods aren’t considered humane. To euthanize a bird humanely, unconsciousness and death must be fast, without the bird regaining consciousness, and the method must be able to be repeated without loss of efficiency.
The recognized forerunners for euthanizing poultry include decapitation, blunt force trauma and manual and mechanical cervical dislocation.
Decapitation
Decapitation severs the head from the body, causing immediate unconsciousness and death. In order for this method to be considered humane, the blade used for decapitation must be sharp, and the severing of the head needs to be accomplished in one strike, and without crushing the neck. It’s also important that the head be severed at the right place, at the joint between the first vertebrae and the skull. Chicks can be easily decapitated using specialized tools manufactured for that purpose. When using decapitation to euthanize, consideration must be given to the biosecurity risks from blood and spinal fluid.
Blunt force trauma
This method of euthanizing requires some skill to ensure it’s completed effectively. With blunt force trauma, a bird’s head is placed against a solid surface, and the bird is then clubbed on the head with a blunt object. This damages the brain, causing unconsciousness and ultimately death through lack of blood flow and breathing. The risks of errors for this method are greatly increased unless the bird’s head is kept immobile. Knowing the right spot to strike to cause unconsciousness is also important.
Cervical dislocation:
This is the most popular method of euthanizing poultry, but it takes some skill to do properly, and may not be practical depending on the size of the bird and the strength of the farmer completing the dislocation. This method causes unconsciousness and death by dislocating the skull from the vertebrae at the brainstem, but can be done incorrectly if a portion of the vertebrae remains attached to the brainstem. There are tools on the market for mechanical dislocation, but once the manual technique is learned it’s a fairly reliable method of euthanizing chicks, chickens and turkeys.
No matter what method a farmer chooses, it’s important to remember that a good end is just as important for a bird as a good life.
Unconscious or dead?
It may seem like it would be obvious if a bird is dead, but unconsciousness and death can look remarkably similar to the untrained eye. So how can you confirm that your bird is dead? Here are four signs that you have successfully euthanized a chicken or turkey.
- The head hangs down below the body. When held upside down by its feet, a live or conscious bird will try to raise its head, while a dead or unconscious bird’s head will fall limply. This can be the first sign to look for to confirm death or unconsciousness, before moving on to further verification.
- Convulsions occur. A dying bird can convulse, but those convulsions will be uncoordinated and won’t reflect an attempt to stand up. Death can then be confirmed through other methods.
- Lack of third-eyelid response. A live bird’s inner (nictitating) eyelid will close when the eye is touched, while a dead bird’s eye will be unresponsive. A fixed pupil is another way to confirm death.
- Lack of response to pain. If a bird responds to pinching their comb, they are not dead.
A photo guide to performing manual cervical dislocation to euthanize. Please note the hen shown here was not injured in the process of the taking of these pictures.
- Amy Hogue