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Disposing of dead birds?

Hi all,

Sadly, we returned home from vacation to find that one of our hens had died shortly before our return (hours earlier I guess). Likely egg binding coupled with heat stress I think. She had watery diarrhea for the last two years, but always seemed fine despite that single symptom. The other two girls are fine.

In the four years we've had birds, this is our first death. What are my options for disposing of her body?

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Permalink Reply by Vicky on August 13, 2014 at 9:29pm

I take my dead birds to the Animal Health Centre in Abbotsford. For $10.50 they will do an analysis of the cause of death (a necropsy). In your case it sounds like you may know the cause, but I just had one pass for unknown reasons and turns out it was likely ovarian cancer. Who knew?

I"m sure others have more advice on disposal...

Permalink Reply by Duncan Martin on August 14, 2014 at 12:40am

Hi Kristi,
Sorry to hear about the loss. That's a really impressive run that your birds have had.
I think the official Vancouver method for disposal is to pay $29 to the animal control for their "general cremation under 10 pounds." This is on Schedule A of the Animal Control Bylaw (19th page of the PDF). http://former.vancouver.ca/bylaws/9150c.PDF

Ironically, a grocery store turkey that has gone bad in the fridge is welcome in the green bin, but chickens cost 3x their shelf price to cremate. It reminds me of a certain clip from a certain movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKjBFsyYC0g

Permalink Reply by Jordan Maynard on August 14, 2014 at 2:53pm