Dirty butt chickens ok to eat?

[CrzyChicLady]

Not that I would eat the butt, but I have a couple RIRs that have a little bit of poo stuck to their butt feathers. I took my frizzle and washed her butt and cut the hard poo feathers off. Not that I would eat my frizzle just wanted to clean her up. What should I look for to check for mites and do I have to treat mites (if that's the case) before I butcher?

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

ifyou are going ot butcher right away just go ahead and do it. If it's going to be awhile you might want to treat for them as they can affect weight & thriftiness. But be aware of withdrawl times.

 

[DianeS]

Poop stuck to feathers and skin, and mites on skin, do not affect whether you can eat the chicken.

Clean it and check/treat for mites if its going to be a while before you butcher. Otherwise, go ahead and butcher regardless of the mess or reason for it.

 

[CrzyChicLady]

I will have to familiarize with mites. I don't think I will be doing any dressing until it's a little warmer. Thanks ya'll.

 

[Denninmi]

I hate to say it, but if you've ever seen a batch of commercially raised chickens or turkeys going off to the slaughter house, you'd probably loose your breakfast. They can be really caked with filth, which isn't surprising given the horrible conditions some of them are raised in. It depends somewhat on the quality of the farming operation, of course, but the basic economics of factory farming dictate pretty awful conditions, from what I've seen of it.

So, the little bit of it on your home grown chickens is relatively trivial. As long as safe food handling procedures are observed, it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[CDennis]

I butchered one last week that had gone down he had some filth aka stuck poop and mud, I brought him in the house, gave him a really nice bath, let him overnight in the guest bedroom with ample water and a warm blanket and did the deed the next afternoon.

 

[aviangems]

I wouldn't

 

[TigerLilly]

Quote:
Why not? Just curious.

 

[sjh]

Quote:
Yea why not
Steps of prosessing.
Kill
Pluck
WASH
ect.

 

[booker81]

As long as you're not eating the feathers (which I've not found a recipe for yet....), there is no reason why not.

I usually wash the birds after killing, to get a majority of the blood, dirt, and whatever off them, before scalding. I've found it keeps my scald water much cleaner and it's not nearly as smelly. If you want, you can cut the poopy feathers off before scalding, rather than try to clean them