Man, my answer to just the subject line was going to be how to break its neck. If you have access to CO2 you can make a tent out of a large garbage bag and put it to sleep with CO2, it will feel drowsy then go to sleep and be in a deep sleep when it dies. Just put it in the bag and run the CO2 line in and leve it to run slowly until it is an ex chicken.

Cervical dislocation (breaking it's neck) is really the quickest, kindest way for the bird, although it is MUCH harder on you.

I've got links to various euthanasia methods on my site here, scroll all the way down to the bottom:

http://jackshenhouse.com/VSChickHealth.htm

Sorry you have to do this. :(

Velvet ~:>

Back when I used to have a large poultry flock I would have to put down plenty of birds and it was never easy. Like you, I never liked the chopping or snapping methods. What I did was to drop the chicken into a thick black plastic bag (often with more than one bird) and cinch the bag tight with very little air in it. The birds would sufocate in a few minutes with no struggling or thrashing.

Another trick is to put the bird in a bucket with a tight fitting lid and after putting it inside you drop in a rag that has been heavily sprayed with engine carb out spray - this will knock it out almost instantly (if you spray heavily). You can either leave it in the bucket for many hours to be sure it is dead, or place it into a tight plastic bag to sufocate it.

Birds can take a long time to die no matter which technique you use (even chopping or snapping).

One thing to NOT do is to use car exhaust fumes. Though the fumes are toxic the exhaust is very very hot. Too hot for you to safely hold something over the tailpipe and too hot to humanely kill something. You basically kill them by the intense heat and not the toxic fumes.

Thanks to those who responded.I came home from work ready to do my duty.We love these girls and treat them like kids.It is very hard to do the right thing for them.I did not know my brother is not bothered by this and he happened to stop buy.He has done this before and had no proplem taking care of it.She now rests with four of her sisters in the backyard flower garden/cematary.
Rusty