Bad Smelling Skin

[MedinaClucker]

Hi all,
I have a flock of heritage birds I've been raising for meat. Today I harvested the first two birds and stopped there. The smell of their skin, once I had picked them, was positively offsetting, raising concerns about the safety of the meat as well as flavor. Their skin smelled like concentrated chicken coop. I suspect that the issue is that I've been using the deep litter method. Should I be changing the litter for meat hens weekly? Thanks!

 

[foreverlearning]

I think it has to do with the breed. I have all my layers and roosters together, I only separate broilers. Out of my regular flock that I have processed for unwanted traits I had one that I will never own again. Black Langshans! Other roosters and hens smelt and tasted fine, but every one of the Black Langshans were belly turning in the smell and they tasted the same as they smelled. I culled all hens and roosters of that breed because I couldn't give them away and their size and color made them not be able to handle the temps here. I clean my coop on a regular biases and they still smelt strongly of a never cleaned coop, all the way threw the meat. I would suggest changing the heritage bread that you are raising. I have had good luck with Rhode Island Reds but you have to get them from a breeder because hatchery ones are not true breed/heritage. There are a lot of threads on duel purpose breeds here, look them up and choose one that someone else has had good results with.

 

[MedinaClucker]

Thanks for the tips. I'm raising Speckled Sussexes and New Hampshire Reds. The rooster was a New Hampshire red and the hen was a sussex. I found other issues with the sussex - some odd skin lesions that looked like gnarly injuries, so I decided she probably wasn't edible. The rooster is in the fridge right now, the meat smells alright, I'll probably eat him tomorrow night. I spoke to someone in person yesterday who reassured me and told me that even cornish cross chickens smell terrible until you get them chilled.

 

[foreverlearning]

I wouldn't take a chance with her either.