Can we eat chickens who just up & die?

[akcountrygrrl]

I wouldn't. There are some zoonotic diseases (pass from animals to people and vice versa) that I just wouldn't want to take the chance of catching. Now, if my dog accidentally killed it and didn't break skin and it was fresh, then I might. I did have a big Brahma roo that got kicked by a horse that we did eat. We were right there when it happened though so knew what happened and knew the bird was fresh.

 

[homesteadinmama]

Why couldn't you eat it? just as long as it is cooked thoroughly--to kill off any potential pathogens. Nuthing wrong with fresh road kill--gotta eat

GiddyMoon--I love that you are in Tucson. We just moved from there 3 years ago and not a day goes by that my hubby says lets go back. What side of town you on? We lived up off of Magee Rd.

 

[Britney]

LOL! I just googles can you eat a chicken that just dies hoping for a correct answer and the first link was to back yard chicken forum.

 

[GiddyMoon]

Quote:
Where are you now? We are actually in Picture Rocks..which ...we did not expect to be...but this property had a lot of what we wanted and my rent is $550 lower than in CA..and I have 4 times the land, 3 times the house and 3 times the storage...and my views and wildlife are amazing!

I LOVE IT HERE. My better half is a twin..almost 20 years ago his brother decided to move here with some friends from CT...so the better half came out for a couple of years at that time...then bump forward..better half moves out here again to help his brother start a business...I was in Sac at the time...better half moves out to be with me there..then the BIL ends up getting married and has 2 girls..so one set of the inlaws ( their parents divorced and remarried when they were very young) decide it is time to move out here from CT and the other set comes out every year for vacation...so a few years ago we all came out. IT WAS MY KIDS who all asked to move.

For 2 years they kept saying they wanted to move here..and we had been wanting out of Sac and possibly out of CA for soooo long..CA is a total joke now. The schools are REALLY sick in the head.

So...we went thru absolute heck..sold everything..came out and started over..I was on prescrip asthma and allergy meds for 30 years...all allergies gone. The heat? PLEASE

CA gets 30 % humidity frequently and often goes over 105 in the summer...the heat here does NOT bother me nearly as much as the heat in Sac. When it is 100 here, feels like about 93 to me..and it cools off after 6 pm here soo much.

So this has been a really hard transition..and with this economy being sooooo bad...wow..but I really do adore it here

It is amazingly beautiful, the skies and mountains are amazing..the monsoons are awesome..I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW BIG TUCSON IS...but it is a wonderful old feeling city.

As for everyone else..thanks for the input! LOL

 

[homesteadinmama]

Quote:
Where are you now? We are actually in Picture Rocks..which ...we did not expect to be...but this property had a lot of what we wanted and my rent is $550 lower than in CA..and I have 4 times the land, 3 times the house and 3 times the storage...and my views and wildlife are amazing!

I LOVE IT HERE. My better half is a twin..almost 20 years ago his brother decided to move here with some friends from CT...so the better half came out for a couple of years at that time...then bump forward..better half moves out here again to help his brother start a business...I was in Sac at the time...better half moves out to be with me there..then the BIL ends up getting married and has 2 girls..so one set of the inlaws ( their parents divorced and remarried when they were very young) decide it is time to move out here from CT and the other set comes out every year for vacation...so a few years ago we all came out. IT WAS MY KIDS who all asked to move.

For 2 years they kept saying they wanted to move here..and we had been wanting out of Sac and possibly out of CA for soooo long..CA is a total joke now. The schools are REALLY sick in the head.

So...we went thru absolute heck..sold everything..came out and started over..I was on prescrip asthma and allergy meds for 30 years...all allergies gone. The heat? PLEASE

CA gets 30 % humidity frequently and often goes over 105 in the summer...the heat here does NOT bother me nearly as much as the heat in Sac. When it is 100 here, feels like about 93 to me..and it cools off after 6 pm here soo much.

So this has been a really hard transition..and with this economy being sooooo bad...wow..but I really do adore it here

It is amazingly beautiful, the skies and mountains are amazing..the monsoons are awesome..I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW BIG TUCSON IS...but it is a wonderful old feeling city.

As for everyone else..thanks for the input! LOL

We headed out east to New Hampshire, but entire family is back there waiting for us....Gotta say it is beautiful out hear and GREEN. Actually able to have a huge garden and not have to worry about the heat/lack of rain. We were both born and raised in AZ, so this was a huge change. My hubby is part reptile so he needs the heat but I have been able to aclimate better. AZ is soooo much cheaper to live than CA. We actually still have our house in AZ cause we want to move back at some point but yeah the economy is kinda slow. I have heard things about CA school system, you in marana school district? I taught there before moving. The school is right off I-10. Loved the friendlyness of people in Tucson, it is a big place now but you start talking to people and they know people/family and even from different states, everyone knows Tucson one way or another. Take care!

 

[Erica]

This will always be an 'opinion' rather than straight 'yes' or 'no' — reason being unless the cause of death is known, there's no way anyone can guarantee it's safe or not safe. But one thing is certain, to eat a bird you have to process it — that can bring you into contact with live pathogens such as avian TB. Then again merely doing a post mortem potentially does the same. Maybe it's a good idea to wear gloves and do a sort of post mortem before deciding whether a dead bird should be food.

You can always change to a less cautious approach when finances get really tight... Then any of us might be out there scraping 'dinner' off the road...

 

[snewman]

I will say that I have eaten a couple of chickens and a turkey that just up and died. In all cases I knew it had been within a short period of time, and the chickens were broilers, the turkey a BBW, both of which are known to die of heart attacks fairly frequently due to the extremely rapid growth. None had been obviously sick beforehand, which probably would have made me choose differently. The feather condition was good, as was the muscling. If a bird has a disease which causes it to die, such as a cancer, which was mentioned early on in this thread, heavy parasite infestation, etc, it is sickly for awhile, losing weight and feather condition, and becomes obviously impaired. Cancer isn't contagious, and isn't really a common problem in birds, and worms are in the guts, which I'm guessing you wouldn't eat anyway. I probably wouldn't eat a dead chicken that had gone into rigor mortis and gotten cold, but only because it would psychologically gross me out, not necessarily because it was any less safe than one I found dead, warm and limp. As someone also mentioned, cooking it well will kill bacteria and other pathogens.

Anyhoo, that's my two cents, I've done it and would do it again under the same circumstances. I'm healthy and fine.

 

[GiddyMoon]

Snewman, thank you. We have really gotten so far from our roots people fear everything now. Your answer is what I figured.

Homestead- so you kind of did the reverse thing compared to my inlaws. lol They say they would never go back. They got tired of shoveling snow, the humidity was awful..I lived in Florida for a time and humidity kills me.

We are in the Marana district, we don't live far from the high school but one of the reasons we came here was freedom to home school how we saw fit. I looked into Marana high..my oldest son is Autistic and he loved school, even though it failed him..but I just did not like what I read about the high school here so he is at home.

You are right about the garden..the water bill definitely goes up..but in the long run it is still cheaper than buying junk produce in the store...I am only planting a few things this year...and of course the chickens! LOL