Sad livestock topic

Today  I found a 6 day old chick that would not open one eye and had an open sore on one foot. I decided to put it down with a hatchet and chopping block which took me a little while to do. Took me about 10 minutes to get over it

What is your process for coming to the conclusion that an animal won’t make it, and then having to put it down?

There was no waste. Chick went into a trap hoping to catch a raccoon that got 1 chicken that decided  to roost too close to the wire.

Yes, that is sad. I'm sorry your little chick didn't make it. The only consolation I can offer is that the chick was with you during its short life, and that you didn't let it suffer. If it had been in the wild, it would have died slowly and painfully.

We've had to put down grown chickens, and it isn't a pleasant thing to do emotionally. The whole time we are sharpening the hatchet, we are praying that we are swift, accurate, and strong with our "chop" so the chicken will go quickly and as painlessly as possible.

If an animal seems too sick or injured to recover, we decide to euthanise it. It's just easier than letting the animal suffer.

I don't know if you are religious, but Proverbs says that the righteous man regards the life of his beast. I interpret that to mean not only its welfare during its life, but also knowing when it's more compassionate to just let it die as humanely as we can make it.

When we cannot heal, we are obligated to "do the right thing" as humanely as possible.

My decision is based on when a creature does not have "joy" and treatment is no longer OR not an option; at that point, it is our duty to provide a safe, kind, swift end of life, to end/prevent suffering.