How to cull chicks
If you make the hard decision
to cull a chick, you're still faced with the dilemma of how to do the
deed. After researching all of the options, I decided that the
most humane (and quickest) method is to suffocate the chick using
carbon dioxide. Although this sounds high tech, you just need a
sealable tupperware container, a shorter container to fit inside, and
some baking soda and vinegar.
You may have mixed
baking soda and vinegar together to make an erupting "volcano" for an
elementary school project, in which case you know that the the duo foam
up on contact, releasing carbon dioxide into the air. You'll want
to do a few experiments before killing your chick to find out how much
baking soda and vinegar are needed to foam up well --- I covered the
bottom of my smaller reservoir with about half an inch of baking soda
and poured on perhaps another inch and a half of vinegar to get the
best foaming action without overflowing my inner reservoir. (No
need to get the chick wet and uncomfortable during its last seconds.)
Now that you know what
you're doing, prep your gas chamber by adding baking soda to the inner
reservoir, then put the chick inside the larger container. Pour
the vinegar on top of the baking soda and quickly close the lid on the
entire chamber. When I culled my chick, the bird peeped for about
two seconds before collapsing, then spent perhaps another ten seconds
twitching (during part of which it was probably already dead and was
definitely unconscious.) Leave the lid on the container for a few
extra minutes to be sure, then bury your chick.
Although it's sad to
have to cull a chick, in the end, it's kinder to remove the chick
before its flockmates peck it to death. Now that I know how easy
euthanizing an ailing chick can be, I won't make the chick wait, in
pain, while I get up my courage.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
This has helped enormously thank you, I am waiting on 5 chicks to hatch that are definitely still alive and wobbling nicely , who according to the "books" and info I have read should be at least "pipping" into their air sacs by now and on their way out of their shells (day 20/21) It is my first time incubating and hatching ..... so am understandably nervous..... but reading your words above has given me some insight, and if I sadly had to end any of their lives, I am so glad there is a way that I could manage to do...... your method is the most ideal and to me quickest way of dealing with very ill chicks ... thank you for the advice ......
Laura --- It depends completely on the ailment whether the chicks will bounce back. I generally give the chicks a few days in isolation in a spare incubator before deciding they won't bounce back, but the time that I was tender-hearted and kept a flawed chick, it struggled throughout its life and grew to only half the size of its peers.
This post was a followup to How to help chicks during hatching, which gives more information on when I helped chicks and they thrived.
I thank you for providing this information, but this manner of asphyxiation should include two additional steps, so as to be truly humane to the chick: Sudden exposures to high concentrations of Carbon Dioxide causes painful irritation of the eyes and respiratory system.
However, first introducing a concentration of 7.5% acts as an analgesic, so as to prevent any pain. A few minutes later, increasing the concentration to between 30% and 40% provides a very effective anesthetic, so as to cause the chick to fully and more gently lose consciousness. And, increasing the concentration beyond 80% causes the quick death, but w/o any pain being suffered at all.
This can still be accomplished with these same supplies by merely adding the proper amounts of vinegar in each of the three required steps (and w/o snapping the lid down tightly until the third amount has been added). Having more baking soda than is required would be fine, as it is the vinegar that controls the amount of carbon dioxide released (i.e. introducing 15 ml of 5% acetic acid to at least 1 gram of baking soda will release 291 cc of carbon dioxide gas).
After making the decision to assist the only viable chick out of a dozen we were incubating, he came out unable to put any pressure at all on his legs and is now not opening his eyes. A "friend" had agreed to take our chicks once they hatched at her farm, but when she learned that only one was born and it had problems she backed out. We are unable to keep chickens within city limits. I am so sad to have to end this poor baby's life, but he is obviously suffering. Thank you for this method. I just couldn't stand the though of having to do something to him that might be painful. I just want it to be quick, for his sake (and mine). I will be doing this after my children go to bed tonight and just let them know that he passed in the night.
Blessings, Nicole
I am still new to hatching chicken. I had a 70% hatch rate on my first batch with one assist. Sadly that one had deformed legs and looked to be constantly in pain as was very noisy. I couldn't get myself to cull it myself so I tried to give it to my 3 outdoor cats who love hunting critters and then the adult chickens but they all decided to be pacifists that day and ignored him... he did consume drops of water mixed with boiled egg yolk and some vitamin feed for chicks while having his legs held in natural position with soft ribbon without squeezing his limbs but it wouldn't show improvements.
I did try this method but all it did is made the chick faint and struggle to breathe for a long time so eventually, I had to use more manual method... I still feel bad about him but it had to be done ):
I have a chick with a bloody sack hanging from its rear end. It seems energetic, and has lasted around 24 hours, but I am scared that the sack will snag on something and rip its intestines out of its body. Should I cull it? What even is this sack?
It seems so alive and way more excited than the other chicks, and I really don't want to kill it.