Butchered chicken possibly contaminated?

[lakeontariochicks]

Hubby and I butchered 2 chickens this morning.
We withheld food for more than 12 hours, but he put them outside this morning, while we were setting everything up.
This is the first time we've ever butchered chickens. Everything went quickly and smoothly until he started to cut around the vent. A poke in the wrong place, and what a shock, there was poop on the chicken.

We rinsed it well, and then I washed the whole thing in soapy water, but still both of us are pretty leery about actually eating this chicken.
What are the dangers of it being contaminated and unsafe to eat? And, I am wondering if spraying it, actually did more damage?
Would making sure the whole chicken was at a high enough temperature when cooking help?
The second one was not a problem and is now "resting" in the fridge.
Thanks for any information about this....

 

[PurpleChicken]

There is no problem at all with this. Almost all chicken will get some fecal matter on it while processing. Rinsing the bird with water is all you need to do to clean it up. When you cook it later anything remaining will be killed.

No worries.


I personally soak all my birds in a cool brine for 24 hours prior to cooking or freezing. The salt in the brine will kill off E-coli and Salmonella. The other thing to consider is that most backyard chickens do not have Salmonella in their poop at all and E-coli levels need to be high to be a threat.

 

[swift4me]

Considering that the average store bought chicken spends 20 minutes "rinsing" in a 2000 gallon vat of water guts, and chicken feces, I think you're safe. When cleaning wild game, including wild turkeys, sometimes something goes wrong, but rinsing quickly and full cooking should be plenty. I wouldn't have used any soap though.

Pete

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

yep you're fine, that's just a part of butchering. freeze the birds until the icky thoughts are out of your head, then put them in a stew and you'll forget all about it!

 

[Dogfish]

Good clean rinse and it will be just fine. Crap happens.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Poop happens.

It's actually pretty common with game meat too. Rinsing the meat takes care of it. I also soak chicken in a salt water brine and freeze my chicken that way. Rinse well before cooking and heat to appropriate temperatures.

 

[lakeontariochicks]

Lol, thanks everyone!

I at least have both of them in a brine solution- always wanted to try it anyway, but I feel much better now.
I appreciate everyone's help!