Can we eat hen that is not well?

[Birdinhand]

NO!! NEVER eat a sick bird.

Cull and burn if possible.

Dear uncle had the BEST racing pigeons in the area. Breeding and racing since he was 16. Those birds never cost him any money. Never. He won so many races that it kept the birds in feed. He tended those birds until the day he died well into his 80's!

He never tolerated a sick bird. Sick birds were culled asap. Made for a healthy flock with strong genetics for good health. He never treated a bird with antibiotics etc. Culled.

Took me a long time to understand the real value of this perspective. I wish he was still here to have greater discussions now that I understand.

Culling is not easy. It shouldnt be easy. I say a prayer for each one, a thank you.

This theme keeps coming up for us. my daughter is in rabbit 4-H and we have our first litter of babies on it's way. at the last meeting the leader took some time to go into her philosophy of breeding and culling with the aim of strengthening the gene pool. it was very matter of fact, perhaps sounds to some as callous, but within reason, it's often the most humane thing to breed toward a standard of health and strength and to cull the week.

I have had some limited experience in the ball python morph breeding community and I think they need to adopt this approach more, because the market is now flooded with all the breeders cast offs and the breeders go to extremes to save every baby because they are so valuable. this has lead to ball pythons in general getting a reputation as needing to be coddled, as finicky eaters, susceptible to disease etc. Their are hundreds of variations in morph color patterns but it seems that so much of it is so new that there are not solid standards for perfection and week individuals are being sold off to unsuspecting novice breeders only to have sub par genes spread around.

We breed rats, some for pets and some for feeding reptiles and are applying the selective approach. the fact that we have reptiles makes this process an economical, no waste approach. In a few short years, we have created several generations and singular pure lines of healthy, vibrant pets. the ones that don't meet the bar get fed out. very quickly we are moving away from the variants that have major skin problems, abscesses, propensity to ear infections, complicated breeding issues etc and only breeding the strong ones and only offering pets that are strong. I suspect that over time we will end up with fewer and fewer "feeder rats" and I would be happy finding homes for all of them. if our breeding approach works so well that 100% of our litters are keepers then I'm happy to going back to buying feeders.

I guess the moral of the story is in all these cases, sometimes taking a "tough love" approach to breeding is ultimately the most compassionate way to go. week genes can all too easily result in animal suffering for all the future generation of that line, and to me, that's not compassionate.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

In advanced cancer, at least in humans, there is often necrotic tissue inside the body as the affected organs begin to die.

No, thanks.

 

[Arielle2]

We humans are hunter/gatherers. NOT scavengers. We are not designed by hundreds of thousands of years to eat carrion. Or found dead animals. Many animals fill this niche. We are not one of them. We kill fresh live healthy animals for fresh use, smoking, salting or otherwise preserved in a traditional manner that has stood the test of time.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Actually, hunters of just about any species are likely to pick off unhealthy members of a group first. If you're going after a herd of deer with only a spear, and they see you and run, but one is running half as fast as the rest, you go after that one. Wolves don't ignore a sickly herd member to chase after the perfectly healthy ones. Predators kill off the sick members of a species and thereby help prevent the spread of disease, or in the case of cancers, the spread of genetics that could weaken the species. If a group of paleolithic humans came across a freshly dead animal, killed by something else, they'd probably take it. The exception being an animal like a leopard that caches kills and might follow the humans after they stole it.
We aren't designed to eat rotting meat, no. But, if something is freshly dead, that's still food. If a predator kills your chicken and you find it freshly killed, that's edible.
If an animal dies of something unknown, it's best not to eat it, given that we have other options now. If it dies of something known, that can't spread, it's still edible if you want. A brain aneurysm doesn't render something inedible, for example. Nor would a stroke, a heart attack, or a heart tumor. If the flesh is visibly unaffected, if there's no necrosis or tissue death anywhere you want to eat, it's not going to hurt you to eat it. You certainly don't have to, but if you have a bird you know didn't die of something contagious, use it for something. Bury it for plants to use, for example. Plants love blood and bones.

So, the answer to "can you eat a sick hen" is "it depends on why it's sick". Unknown causes, absolutely no. Same for anything contagious or caused by any sort of germ. It may not infect humans now, but eating germ-ridden animals is a good way to get a pathogen to make the cross-species leap. Anything that produces weird fluids or makes the meat look 'not right' is extremely suspect. But, an animal being sick from an anatomical-only cause, like a stroke, aneurysm, or tumor, or a natural deformity, doesn't necessarily make it inedible.

 

[Arielle2]

A weakened animal is not necessarily a "SICK" animal. Im older and not as fast as I used to be. The laws of survival also depend a lot on chance. He zigged, and she zagged.... caught ...or free.

Bottom line-- dont eat sickly animals.

 

[Cryss]

Personally I would never eat a sick bird, no matter what the illness. But you could cook it up and feed it to your dog or cat.
The clear, slimy stuff at the thighs is normal.

Can you please explain about clear slimy stuff on thighs? This is normal on all butchered chickens?

 

[Geena]

Can you please explain about clear slimy stuff on thighs? This is normal on all butchered chickens?

I believe it is fascia- connective tissue. We find it on all our home raised meat birds. It's fairly easy to wash off, which is probably why you seldom see it on chicken from the store.

 

[Cryss]

Egg CView attachment 1724218 View attachment 1724219

I believe it is fascia- connective tissue. We find it on all our home raised meat birds. It's fairly easy to wash off, which is probably why you seldom see it on chicken from the store.

Thanks. I think I've seen this now that you've explained it.

 

[andree]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

The carcass is still in the freezer, awaiting the verdict. I don't want to take the risk of eating it but my husband has looked into this too and wants to eat it made into a broth since he says he found online that ascites is a common ailment among broiler chickens.

Meanwhile, we have another issue with another hen who is limping but I'll post about if need be in a separate thread.

 

[RoosterML]

I’m sorry but unless I was on Naked N Afraid and it was day 14 with no food I might give it go. Heck no don’t eat a sick animal. I’ll send you the $5 go buy one at the grocery store please if need be. Your potential medical bill if something goes wrong will be much higher.