Can I process an injured turkey?

[Seriph]

Yesterday a bbb hen got her head stuck in a fence and flailed like crazy. She seemed ok, but didn’t move much. I figured if she looked bad this morning I’d just go ahead and process her. But I found her dead this morning. Stiff. Can I still process her? I’ve never waited after death to process a bird, and can’t recall my mother or grandmother ever waiting either. I guess my question is is it still safe to process her for the freezer?

 

[PouleChick]

I'm not sure but interested on hearing answers! sorry for the loss of your girl.

 

[trudyg]

If you left a roast outside since you last saw her last night, would you still eat it? Especially since she was not cold to begin with? It doesn't take long for guts, warm and moist, to go bad. Do you really want to try that?

 

[Seriph]

That’s not a fair assessment. I grew up in Romania in a poor area, so yeah I probably would eat a roast that was left out lol It was never uncommon to see poultry or small animals hung up to age or dry. I processed her, and have it in the fridge. If it’s not a good idea I’ll cook her over the fire and feed her back to the flock.

 

[Maeschak]

Yesterday a bbb hen got her head stuck in a fence and flailed like crazy. She seemed ok, but didn’t move much. I figured if she looked bad this morning I’d just go ahead and process her. But I found her dead this morning. Stiff. Can I still process her? I’ve never waited after death to process a bird, and can’t recall my mother or grandmother ever waiting either. I guess my question is is it still safe to process her for the freezer?

I would process her asap, that will give you time to decide if its something you want to try to eat. Perhaps skin her and remove the breast, legs, and wings leaving the body cavity intact so as to not spread bad bacteria.
Personally, I would absolutely try to eat her- but I would also eat a roast I left out all night and far more! I am 'adventurous' that way. In fact, one year I shot a deer that I thought I saw run off gleefully. I found her the next morning still a tad warm in the belly area. (I was absolutely mortified that I had made that mistake and almost wasted an entire animal.) I removed her back straps and parts of quarters without gutting. And yes, I ate it and was fine. I left the body cavity intact so as to not let the bad bugs loose.
I, however, regularly test my defenses against such bad bug invaders.

 

[oldrooster]

I would process asap and use the whole thing. unless there was signs of the guts looked like they had disintegration occurring....