Can i eat my dead chickens?

[Galinidus]

So this morning i went to see my chickens and something had killed my cock, and 3 chickens. They were all headless. We took them all and stored them in a bucket in the river, where cold water runs, and we got to securing the chicken house better, which took us all day. Now its 10pm and wondering if its possible we could still eat them? I don't want them to go to waste, is it too late?

 

[hysop]

If something killed them I would never eat dead chickens.

But I would probably give it to my dog since he’s a strictly outside dog and he eats all sorts of dead animals as it is (I’ve witnessed it).

But as far as humans: never eat an animal that was killed by something other than you.

 

[KiwiandPeachthePigeons]

I would worry about them being contaminated after the attack... but then again I'm no expert. I say wait until some more experienced BYC'ers come around.

 

[hysop]

I just reread your post and my second comment is: I highly advice against eating any animal that has been killed by a predator whether it was killed one minute ago or ten hours ago. Wild animals have diseases and their saliva can carry those diseases. Biting into your chickens could have potentially transferred said diseases. It is too much of a risk.

If you don’t want them to go to waste feed it to your dog if you have one, they usually know if it’s safe to eat something by smell. But obviously cook it or make sure it doesn’t resemble the live chickens or they’ll go after your live chickens for a snack.

Sorry this happened to you. I don’t like being wasteful either and thankfully I have my dog as a garbage disposal but even with pets we gotta be careful what we feed them.

 

[Folly's place]

I've never been hungry/ desperate enough to eat an animal killed like that. It's a very bad idea, IMO.
Besides, if your predator happens to carry rabies, fresh saliva on those carcasses is contagious, to you. It sounds like these birds were dead (cold?) for a while, so likely not a problem here, but still, be careful about this sort of thing.
Then, that river water isn't so clean either, so these carcasses have whatever they picked up out there too.
My dogs would love them, but that's not happening either, especially after all this time. Yuck!
Mary

 

[Galinidus]

Haha they werent directly in the river water, i had put them in a big metal container, and put that in the river. Thank you everyone for your quick replies, really helpful, not sure what im gonna do with them, but i wont eat them now (im actually a vegetarian, i was asking because my mate wanted to eat them). Another question, just to know for future, is it the time passed that makes it inedible? Or because of the way they were killed ...

 

[Folly's place]

Both.
Last spring, when one of our dogs killed 21 (!) of our birds one afternoon, because of a fence failure, they all went out to our woods, 1/3 mile away, for the wildlife. It was awful, the ground was frozen, and at least some critters got a meal...
Mary

 

[hysop]

I agree with Folly’s place.

Once an animal is dead it needs to be bled out asap or it will have blood clots and make the meat tough or something, I’m not an expert.

But definitely never eat an animal that has been killed by a predator no matter how long ago it was. Unless maybe you’re in a zombie apocalypse and are dying to eat something. (But even then not a good idea).

 

[Galinidus]

We are close to a zombie apocalypse so maybe ill save em for next week joking.. Thanks for ur answer, will not eat...

 

[Syclone]

I honestly might eat them. We have processed deer that have been gnawed on by coyotes. I would atleast process the birds and look at and smell the meat. Maybe the breast and leg meat are still good. Again thats just me. My wife says i make dumb decisions all the time though.