BB gun to euthanize chicken ?

Hello, I have a sick chicken that I need to euthanize. I just cannot bring myself to cut off her head or slit her throat. My neighbor offered me a BB gun, It is a small handgun pistol type thing. It only shoots BBs, not pellets. With this be sufficient at basically point blank range to quickly kill the chicken? Wood pellets be better? I’m not looking for something long range, very close will be fine. Any suggestions? Also, I know the chickens flap and move even after they’re dead. How long does this go on for?

Hi Leigti!
I'm so sorry to hear about your chicken and the situation you are faced with.

I have used our pellet gun to put down a chicken. It is effective so I would think that a BB gun would also be as effective. We use metal pellets with our gun.

*Contains graphic depiction for those who may not wish to read the following.

The best way I've found to dispatch the majority of birds and animals with a gun; a pellet to a .22 rifle...is to place the gun at the base of the skull at the back of the head and have the pellet/bullet pointed high enough into the skull that it's close to eye level or in that area. It seems to be the quickest method resulting in the least action and blood from the animal/bird from any method I've used. The bullet/pellet severs the spinal cord and they may spread their wings out/jerk slightly/move their legs and it's done quite quickly. The only thing you don't want to do is not have the BB pointed too low so it aims at the bottom of the face or jaw. The pellet to the brain kills them very quickly so they won't be feeling anything. The movement is the resulting nerves.

This is by far my prefered method. It's nice because they can be resting and not expect anything. It's also nice that you don't have to look them in the face. I also find that having to point at the head from the face produces more blood.

Just make sure you have extra BBs on hand in case it does require another BB if the placement wasn't quite perfect.

I hope this wasn't too graphic of an explanation for you...but I wanted to be thorough to prepare you for what to expect.

Please know that if she is sick enough that you feel it necessary to put her down...that you are being very kind in not letting her suffer. This is very commendable. I'm so sorry that you have to go through this.

Leigti said:

Hello, I have a sick chicken that I need to euthanize. I just cannot bring myself to cut off her head or slit her throat. My neighbor offered me a BB gun, It is a small handgun pistol type thing. It only shoots BBs, not pellets. With this be sufficient at basically point blank range to quickly kill the chicken? Wood pellets be better? I’m not looking for something long range, very close will be fine. Any suggestions? Also, I know the chickens flap and move even after they’re dead. How long does this go on for?

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It truly would be more humane for the chicken if you dispatched it in another way. Although this method may be easier for you, that's not easier on the chicken... who is the one we're worried about. If you, personally, cannot do the cutting, is there someone else who can? Any method that *might* require another *shot* is not a good method in my opinion.

No judgement, just a statement.

i've played with bb guns and pellet guns as a kid ... i do not think a bb is powerful enough ... pellet guns sure ...as long as its over about 800 foot per second ... i'd still recommend a clever ... there no missing with that ... with any gun if you don't know what you doing ...you may not deliver that instant kill shot and leave the animal suffering ... i've witnessed pigeons with half a head fly off !!! ( Not me --- local guy around these parts shoots them for his pot)...use a clever or a sharp axe ...bang its done!

DIGGIN CHICKEN said:

i've played with bb guns and pellet guns as a kid ... i do not think a bb is powerful enough ... pellet guns sure ...as long as its over about 800 foot per second ... i'd still recommend a clever ... there no missing with that ... with any gun if you don't know what you doing ...you may not deliver that instant kill shot and leave the animal suffering ... i've witnessed pigeons with half a head fly off !!! ( Not me --- local guy around these parts shoots them for his pot)...use a clever or a sharp axe ...bang its done!

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Or pvc pipe cutter, or garden snips, or axe.

Smuvers Farm said:

Or pvc pipe cutter, or garden snips, or axe

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never seen those been used before ...does it envelope the chickens entire neck? or do you need a few squeezes to finish the job?

DIGGIN CHICKEN said:

never seen those been used before ...does it envelope the chickens entire neck? or do you need a few squeezes to finish the job?

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Never used, just ideas because these might be something they have around the house they can use. I would just leave the bb gun as a very very extremely last resort... short of drowning the chicken.

Smuvers Farm said:

It truly would be more humane for the chicken if you dispatched it in another way. Although this method may be easier for you, that's not easier on the chicken... who is the one we're worried about. If you, personally, cannot do the cutting, is there someone else who can? Any method that *might* require another *shot* is not a good method in my opinion.

No judgement, just a statement.

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A second shot has never been required here when dispatching a chicken with a pellet gun. However I've put numerous animals down over the years. I added that information specifically for this case since the OP does not sound experienced and for those who may be reading this in the future. I would hope anyone using a gun for dispatching an animal would bring extra rounds in case something went awry. It's the prudent thing to do in all cases.

DIGGIN CHICKEN said:

i've played with bb guns and pellet guns as a kid ... i do not think a bb is powerful enough ... pellet guns sure ...as long as its over about 800 foot per second ... i'd still recommend a clever ... there no missing with that ... with any gun if you don't know what you doing ...you may not deliver that instant kill shot and leave the animal suffering ... i've witnessed pigeons with half a head fly off !!! ( Not me --- local guy around these parts shoots them for his pot)...use a clever or a sharp axe ...bang its done!

Click to expand...

My son's pellet gun is a simple .177 break barrel rifle, nothing fancy. If the OP was required to shoot a bird from a distance...I would not recommend it. However, the OP is shooting at point blank range. The BB gun we had would've dispatched a chicken.

Wickedchicken6 said:

My son's pellet gun is a simple .177 break barrel rifle, nothing fancy. If the OP was required to shoot a bird from a distance...I would not recommend it. However, the OP is shooting at point blank range. The BB gun we had would've dispatched a chicken.

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a .177 is just a calibre size ...these things can shoot up to 1250 feet per second .. which is a pretty mean punch ... a .22 on the other hand gives a little more punch ... here they don't sell anything over 1050 fps so that's what i had ..anything higher you need a gun licence ... quickest way to over come that is by changing shells ... i always kept some ultra sonic pellets at hand ... (red plastic body with a hard sharpened steel tip) .. i could put a hole right through a steel drum at about 8 meters ... i could take down guinea fowl with it ...standards pellets would just bounce off them ...

bb guns have a round balls that dont penetrate well .. and the ones i used as a kid .. Daisy .... only had a max mussel velocity of about 200 -300 fps ... i may be wrong , things could have change a bit over the past 30 years.

ps ... talking about this just reminded me of a mate ..john ... stepping down from his porch one day ... he almost trod on a snake .. gave him such a fright he ran in doors and grabbed his 9mm ... came running out and opened fire ... he spent the entire magazine and didn't hit it once ...haha! His gardner turned up with a spade and took its head of with out breaking a sweat .... now there's a proper tool to add to the list smuvers created ... a shovel or spade!