Can you eat a sick bird?

[ChickMandy]

We're new to meat chickens this year, and one of our birds (just over six wks old) has started acting strange. He's not able to walk and is sitting back on his haunches, balancing himself with his wings. He is not too fat, so it can't be related to weight. He has also never fully feathered out. He is not interested in food or water.

My husband is going to slaughter him this evening because he's obviously not doing well, but we wondered if he will be okay to eat. No one else in the flock are exhibiting these symptoms, and all the others are fully feathered, eating and drinking.

Thanks for your help!

 

[marianne7]

We're new to meat chickens this year, and one of our birds (just over six wks old) has started acting strange. He's not able to walk and is sitting back on his haunches, balancing himself with his wings. He is not too fat, so it can't be related to weight. He has also never fully feathered out. He is not interested in food or water.

My husband is going to slaughter him this evening because he's obviously not doing well, but we wondered if he will be okay to eat. No one else in the flock are exhibiting these symptoms, and all the others are fully feathered, eating and drinking.

Thanks for your help!

To be on the safe side I would'nt, it may have a virus...Its really up to you, but I would'nt - sorry

 

[Oregon Blues]

If it is a Cornish Cross youngster and it is off it's legs, then I would certainly butcher it and eat it.

Cornish Cross with leg problems is not a "sick" chicken. It's got weak tendons, not a virus.

 

[ChickMandy]

He's a white rock broiler, but I'm assuming that it would be the same. He's "off his legs" .. that's exactly what the problem is.

 

[Fenika]

Unless you can recognize signs of a sick bird (particularly a septic bird), I wouldn't. He could have bacteria in his entire system that also went into his hocks.

He could have the infection only in his hocks at this point, but if you can't tell weak hocks which look mostly normal from swollen infected ones....

It's also possible the bird is not at all sick. Assuming he has weak hocks is a bad idea though... It is up to you whether you want to hold him for a few days and make sure he is healthy, perky, and actually eating rather than pretending too (and thus much more likely to not be systemically ill) or put him down now.

Are there any disposition guides on the internet??? There are world health guides for goats and such, but I've not seen one for poultry...

 

[ChickMandy]

My daughter has just brought me another bird who has started to go back on her hocks. She's walking fine, but when she stops she falls back. She is also not one of the bigger birds, but that doesn't mean she can't have weak tendons.

Is there such a thing as a virus that would just go to the hocks? Or an illness with this symptom? I have a couple of chicken books, but they mostly deal with layers with only a chapter on meat birds, so there isn't much health info.

We've already lost eight birds to predators, it would be a shame to lose more just because we don't know what's wrong with them