Autodoor, 12V supply and power settings

[beach chick]

Griffin, the being able to despatch them yourself is something I really do admire, and I want to learn how to do it (well not 'want' but you know what I mean...). I'm going to google courses and see if I can find one reasonably nearby.

I had to despatch a badly injured quail a few weeks ago, and my method, although VERY quick, was not orthodox and certainly not feasible with a chicken.

[Chicken shack]

I go with redwing. See how they are and ask advice on here, if they are suffering or no change I would take it to the vets. Infact that is what I had to do a few weeks ago on a Saturday. Daisy was unable to walk, I seperated her and kept her warm, fed and watered untill Monday I then took her to the vets who gave her antibiotic and calcium injection. There was no change by the Wednesday infact she was weaker so I took her back to the vets and we decided it was best to put her to sleep. All this cost a whopping £90. If I or my husband were brave we could do it ourselves but we are softies.

[beach chick]

If I or my husband were brave we could do it ourselves but we are softies.

 

what puts me off doing it is doing it wrong and therefore causing fear or pain... hence I think the need to learn how to do it properly. have suggested hubby might like to learn, but he is having nothing of it!! with the departed quail, I even googled 'methods' and found some um, instructive stuff esp on Youtube, but with the girls in the house was reluctant to watch too closely.

[Dolly]

Yes!! My girls are my pets and I would never see an animal, pet or otherwise suffer, I'm too soft!

I believe if you keep animals then you should expect to take the good with the bad ie. the vets bills, as they rely on you for everything in their lives - food, shelter and care. We all know chickens are particularly good at hiding illness so by the time you notice a problem, they could be in pain or suffering in some way. If something doesn't clear up quickly, I couldn't watch them suffer.

 

If it helps, in 2 years we've spent about £37 when Roxy had a problem with her foot and £160 when she badly injured her beak (the vet was wonderful and thought he could save her with no detriment to her quality of life, which luckily worked out brilliantly!). I know some people will think I'm mad to spend this but the sheer pleasure they bring to me far outweighs the cost.

[Mercedes55]

Not mad at all Dolly, you obviously care a lot about your girls and I think that's good

[C&T]

I agree Beach chick.

 

The only time I have used the vet so far was to put a suffering chook to sleep. And I wish I could have done it myself, and saved her the stress of the travelling to the Vet (as well as the cost!!) but have no experience of anyone doing this, and would want to learn how before doing it myself. Would hate to inflict any further unnecessary suffering.

 

Other than that, I do not intend to spend a lot of money on a chook, i.e. operations etc. I haven't been put to the test for that yet - we'll see what happens! As long as there is no suffering - that is the rule!

[Griffin]

I did one of the Kill, Pluck, Gut & Bone courses at Cotswold Chickens last year. I'd already despatched a few meat birds with the knowledge I'd gained by reading online but the course showed me a better way of doing it. I'd highly recommend it to everyone who keeps chickens because you never know when that knowledge will come in handy. It helps me enormously to know that I can end my girls suffering quickly. When my little Faverolles prolapsed for the final time she was literally screaming her head off and I was able to help her immediately rather than bundling her into the car for a half hour journey to the vets.

[Chortle Chook]

I agree with Redwing. Nothing deserves to suffer. I take any of my animals, no matter how small they are, to the vet if I believe that the vet can help make them better or if I feel that their time has come and they need to be PTS. However I don't usually go in for extensive tests on any of my animals. If offered tests I always try to ask myself these questions before making a decision:

'What will I do with the results?'

'Will they make a real difference?'

'Will they stop my animal suffering?'

'Will the tests themselves cause un-necssary suffering?'

Birds, including chickens, seem more difficult than, say, dogs because, being a prey species, they do their best to keep up with the rest and by the time they appear ill they usually are pretty poorly. This means that deciding to 'wait and see how things progress' can be an awkward thing to gage. To my great sadness and continued regret I once let a little dove of mine die because I postponed going to the vet over a weekend. In the early days I also think I caused the death of a little hen of mine by self medicating her for what I now know was sour crop, but thought was an impacted crop. I gave her drops of olive oil and massged her crop, but she got very ill in a day or so and when I did get her to the vet she had to be PTS.

On the other hand I recently spent over £50 with a vet on my little cockerel for what I now know was just a mild case of the sniffles.