Eating a treated chicken

[bigz1983]

Last summer we had a Buff Orpington hen get Spanglitis or a oviduct infection.
She started looking sick so we separated her and we noticed she was laying lash eggs.
We put her on antibiotics and she survived but she doesn't lay eggs anymore.
It's been over a year since she was treated with antibiotics would it be ok to butcher her or is it unsafe to eat a chicken that was treated with antibiotics at any point?

 

[iwltfum]

I would think the antibiotics should be out of her system after a year. I'm pretty sure they would dissipate in a matter of hours as they would in a human. The effect of the antibiotic is just killing bacteria so she would most likely have gained back any necessary bacteria for gut function soon after stopping the antibiotic treatment.

 

[RoosterML]

I can’t answer that. First I personally wouldn’t give any chicken antibiotics. I would have culled her last year.

 

[bigz1983]

I can’t answer that. First I personally wouldn’t give any chicken antibiotics. I would have culled her last year.

Yes I have learned my lesson I will cull the next time a hen gets a oviduct infection

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I'm not really sure........ if it were me, probably not.

 

[Folly's place]

There are withdrawal times for livestock listed on the FARAD.org website, and on medications used in livestock species.
Many approved drugs have a thirty day withdrawal between use and slaughter, listed for cattle, for example. Then there are many drugs not approved for any use out there, so in theory the withdrawal time is forever.
I tend to agree that a year is a long time, which is good, but also, this bird may or may not actually be totally healthy, and if there's any doubt about how 'normal' everything is in there, throw it out.
If you actually used one or more of the drugs actually approved for poultry, go by the listed withdrawal time, which will be shorter than one year!
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

Then there are many drugs not approved for any use out there, so in theory the withdrawal time is forever.

Good post, Mary, as usual.

No withdrawal times listed usually just means they haven't been tested for that animal so they don't know what to write down. Of course there could be other reasons, maybe the drug isn't used due to certain side effects on that animal. But it's usually nothing more sinister than withdrawal hasn't been tested.

If it has been a year the antibiotics would not bother me as far as the meat or eggs either if any were involved. But if you are uncomfortable for any reason, just don't. I think this is more of a personal choice than science.

 

[Folly's place]

Most antibiotics not approved for livestock species are because of their necessary use in humans, and the real issues that have developed over bacterial drug resistance. Whole classes of drugs are not legal to use in livestock species for this reason.
Because there's a use for some of these drugs in pet species, people think that there's not a problem, but it's just not so.
Mary

 

[Parront]

I would eat the bird. All the birds in the store are likely to have been treated with antibiotics. The freedom with which the poultry industry uses antibiotics is the reason that some are not allowed, as mentioned above. The damage is already done, all the medicine you would get for your bird at a place like your local feed store is already pretty much useless for treating humans. I would cook it well as you would do any chicken, which kills any antibiotic resistant bacteria the bird could be harboring. Bon Appetite!