could i have eaten this meatie?

[moodusnewchick]

I lost a meatie over the weekend. My question is, should I have processed the bird before it died? The problem started Sat. night when we had rain and wind. I don't know what happened to the little one, but one of the lights in the "coop" was busted and everyone was rather out of it when I went out in the morning. This little one was the most out of it. Lots of heavy breathing, not much movement. By Sun night, the poor thing was crying. In my heart of hearts, I thought maybe sleeping under the heat lamp for the night would help. In retrospect, I could have had a perfectly sized cornish hen and probably ended the suffering the bird went through. SO, not knowing what ailed the little chick, but clearly seeing that it wasn't doing well....could I have safely eaten the bird?

 

[MissPrissy]

By the time you realized there was a problem it probably had pnuemonia.

I would advise you to never eat a sick or dying bird or one that died and you don't know why.

Meat birds with leg problems - sure. Meat birds with unknown health issues - no way.

 

[greyfields]

I would only eat them if you're certain it was a skeletal/muscular problem. Sometimes you'll see ones with broken legs, or legs which simply can't handle their weight. Those are good ones to cull early, as they rarely (i.e. never) get better from it.

 

[carress]

To me, any illness is an open door for another illness, so even if you see symptoms of one illness that you're not worried about, there may be another infection lurking beneath the surface due to the weakened immune system.