Eat or not to eat because Marek's

[EggSighted4Life]

We are also often under a burn ban. I haven't buried anything yet. I guess those two reasons might be enough for me to consider not pursuing NPIP. I know in some city locations it is illegal to bury dead animals on your property. I'm not actually sure what the law is here. But I know I'm always nervous about what I might unearth when I am gardening. So far not much, thankfully!

 

[Chickythom]

So I have chickened out and decided we will not
Eat the symptomatic birds. I got the pathology results from our necropsies and both splayed leg birds also had secondary fungal infections. I am too afraid to expose my family to an unknown secondary infection. Sigh.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

That stinks.

 

[Chickythom]

That stinks.

It does!

 

[Chickythom]

Ok so we processed our "healthy" male Marek's BO. I thought hey would dress out at a much higher weight than they did but oh well. They were 18 weeks bold and dressed out at about 4.9 lbs. totally deceiving when you pick them up or just see them as they look huge. Anywho. One of the ones we processed had some unexpected findings. His liver looked great but he had a fatty tumor on his back and his heart had very dense either tumor or fat attached to the base of the heart. We opted not to eat him. Was that silly/wasteful? I am assuming he would have "spontaneously died" due to heart failure at some point. Thoughts? This is our first go so I al looking at textbooks for "healthy organs" and "abnormal findings."

 

[rebrascora]

That sounds like typical Marek's findings in my experience. I probably would still have eaten him after cutting out the tumour but you have to do what you think is right. I would expect that thorough cooking will kill any fungal infections as well as bacterial.
I've seen muscular tumours as well as visceral ones. The muscular ones were like sausage meat and cooked egg all mixed together so kind of pink and yellow inside when you cut into them. I think you are right that he would probably have died suddenly from the growth on his heart .
Fat in chickens is usually very yellow, so if you are seeing something more off white, it is probably tumour. If you took any photos, please feel free to post them. We can all learn something from these situations. You may need to amend the thread heading with a "Graphic photo" warning though.

 

[Chickythom]

That sounds like typical Marek's findings in my experience. I probably would still have eaten him after cutting out the tumour but you have to do what you think is right. I would expect that thorough cooking will kill any fungal infections as well as bacterial.
I've seen muscular tumours as well as visceral ones. The muscular ones were like sausage meat and cooked egg all mixed together so kind of pink and yellow inside when you cut into them. I think you are right that he would probably have died suddenly from the growth on his heart .
Fat in chickens is usually very yellow, so if you are seeing something more off white, it is probably tumour. If you took any photos, please feel free to post them. We can all learn something from these situations. You may need to amend the thread heading with a "Graphic photo" warning though.

I did take pics of one of the ones we will eat. I will try to post them. Good to know about the other and safety eating. Will keep that in mind when we process our hens. We are waiting until we are moving to cull them. I hope we get some eggs. We have some seriously adorable hens. Still so sad.

 

[Chickythom]

That sounds like typical Marek's findings in my experience. I probably would still have eaten him after cutting out the tumour but you have to do what you think is right. I would expect that thorough cooking will kill any fungal infections as well as bacterial.
I've seen muscular tumours as well as visceral ones. The muscular ones were like sausage meat and cooked egg all mixed together so kind of pink and yellow inside when you cut into them. I think you are right that he would probably have died suddenly from the growth on his heart .
Fat in chickens is usually very yellow, so if you are seeing something more off white, it is probably tumour. If you took any photos, please feel free to post them. We can all learn something from these situations. You may need to amend the thread heading with a "Graphic photo" warning though.

You are right about cooking most likely killing fungi and bacteria... would you eat a neuro symptom bird?

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, I would. I'm very much a "waste not, want not" person. Possibly even a little cavalier about what I eat.... ie I don't worry about best before dates or anything like that... One of my favourite lamb dishes is shoulder that has been in the fridge a fortnight and gone slightly green and slimy, then washed in vinegar and roasted until well cooked through and crispy on the outside. I have to have one ready to cook next month when my best mate is coming back from Australia because it is her favourite too! I've eaten yoghurts that were months out of date as long as they looked and smelled OK, I scrape the mould off a jar of jam and eat the rest etc.... Maybe that all gives me a good healthy immune system.... Interestingly I just learned that my blood donations (I just gave my 50th pint last week) are specifically reserved and given to babies because my blood has such low levels of antibodies. I was surprised because I am exposed to lots of dirt and bacteria working outdoors, but perhaps this is why, as my immune system has learned not to react unless there is a problem. I'm also a beekeeper, so maybe that has some bearing on it too.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

You are right about cooking most likely killing fungi and bacteria... would you eat a neuro symptom bird?

People who don't buy whole birds but go with boneless/skinless pieces just don't know that the chicken industry is allowed to cut of the bruises and tumors and still sale it for a PREMIUM!

What's crazy is.. we have left a fresh processed bird in our fridge for easily 2 weeks with no funny smell or sliminess! What must be going on with market chickens that they've been floated in a chlorine blood river, usually get some sort of antibacterial spray inside and out.. yet get gross withing a few days in the fridge. I can promise you our practice isn't super clean.. we skin, gut, rinse in cold water and stick it in the fridge.

Thank you for sharing your experience! It will help if I have to make this decision in the future.

@rebrascora Wow, you're pretty cool! I'm a member of the waste not want not club... verging on hoarder. But in recovery a little.

We have so much fat left when we cook meat.. and I want to feed it to the animals so it doesn't go to waste. But since I know it won't help their health, I just can't bring myself to do it. Oh well, like I said.. in recovery, and some things we just have to learn to let go.

We haven't gotten proficient enough to use all our organs and stuff from our chickens yet either.. but I'm sure that will come.