Fatty Bird

[Euphillia]

Had the unfortunate experience of needing to process my birds this morning as my dog decided after 3 years of harmonious living he wanted to kill them all.

In any case meat was ruined for human consumption, but since the dog is on a raw diet I got to work processing my first birds.

My question is one of them had huge amounts of fat deposits everywhere. The whole neck was covered and all the organs were encased in it! I almost wasn't able to separate the good stuff because there was so much. Is that common or normal? I was cleaning her and thought with all this fat she was going to drop dead anyways.

Thanks!

Christine

 

[N F C]

Good morning. We haven't had to process any of our birds so can't answer your question about the fat issue. Just wanted to pass on some condolences on losing your chickens. Do you have any live birds left or are you going to have to start over with a new flock?

 

[Ridgerunner]

What you saw is probably normal since it was a laying hen. Before they start to lay a hen puts on a lot of extra fat. Most of that is in a fat pad right at the vent area but you will find fat all through her body and on her organs, gizzard and heart especially. The purpose of all that fat is if she goes broody she will live off of that fat since she doesn’t get off the nest much to eat and drink. She’ll lose a lot of weight while broody but most of that is just that fat you saw, put there for that purpose.

Some laying hens have a lot more fat than others. They are all unique. Sometimes I’m amazed at how an egg can get through that fat pad to be laid. Sometimes the fat isn’t all that much. But if she is laying there will be some.

 

[Euphillia]

NorthFlChick, We only had 3 birds(lost the 4th in early spring to a bound egg). Wont be replacing them right now, new baby due in Feb and husband will be retiring in less than two years, so a big move back to the East Coast is in order. Just going to repair the coop and find it a new home. Thanks for the condolences. It really sucked.

Ridgerunner, thanks for that explanation. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw all that fat. I had watched a ton of videos on processing and never saw that, so I thought it was odd. But I know to expect it in future flocks!

 

[N F C]

Congratulations on the new baby coming soon. And with your husband retiring plus a move, you're going to be plenty busy! Good luck to you and yours on all counts.