Bringing myself to do necropsy.

[MEMama3]

I really want to be brave enough to perform a necropsy on the bird I had to cull today. I am quite sure she had infectious bronchitis before coming to me. She was seriously hen pecked and even over the 5 months I had her, she never did get her feathers back. She was always a loner. She had every "odd egg" on the chart - in fact never had a "normal" one.

I did a test cut this evening after the kids were in bed. As nervous as I was, it wasn't too bad. I'm just worried about how I'll do when it comes to really getting in there. I can't use the "once it's skinned it's just like prepping a bird for cooking" because I've never done that. I've been a life long vegetarian so I always have my husband prepare meat for the family. He said he wouldn't feel comfortable working on a bird he knew personally and I don't feel like pressuring him since keeping chickens was my undertaking.

Has anyone else brought themselves to doing it? Any words of encouragement?

 

[Eggcessive]

I haven't done one yet, but here is a link for how to do it and what to look for: http://borlaug.tamu.edu/files/2012/03/Poultry-necropsy-Manual.pdf

 

[countrygoddess]

You're doing it because you care. Even vegetarians--maybe especially vegetarians--care enough about animals to want to know what killed them so it can be prevented in the rest. You're doing it out of care, concern... and love for the animals you keep. Right? Love for all beasts will carry you through what needs to be done.

 

[HS Pye]

Yes, I've done it before. Surprisingly, it wasn't super messy! It was a great learning experience and very interesting to see the makeup of the chicken. I would heavily recommend you try it for yourself, you won't regret it. Hope this helps! ; )

 

[MEMama3]

Thanks everyone! I hate to be in this situation, but I do know I am doing it because I care. Originally I had wanted to have meat birds, but after soul searching I knew I wasn't the type of person that could be objective and see them as dinner for my family.