Filthy Coop Condition

[oldpaths1611]

A neighbor has been keeping chickens in a home made coop that sits right on the ground with no base. The chickens have been in there for about two months. They poop there, sleep there, and eat in there. He throws the food right on the same ground they poop on and they eat off of it. He is going to butcher his chickens and wants to give me one to eat. I'm wondering how safe that would be considering how they've been raised. Is there anything to worry about?

 

[Chickenmaven]

As long as his butchering facility is not as dirty, I would say "no worries."

 

[Wolfwoman]

Chickens eat some of their poo regardless if they are in clean conditions or not. It's just a chicken thing... it gets digested and comes back out again

As said above, as long as the butchering conditions are ok, then they should be fine.

 

[Salt and Light]

I would politely decline somehow saying your concerned about the cleanliness of the birds and the way they are raised.

 

[Ariel301]

Unless he's butchering them while rolling them around on the ground where all the poop is, they should be ok. If the live birds are showing obvious signs of illness, I personally would not eat one, but if your concern is just that they are sitting in/eating their own poop while alive...well, I clean my coop daily and my birds do the same. I have pans for their feed, but they use their feet to rake all the food out of the pans, scratch it down into the poopy/muddy/yucky run dirt, then eat it.

I would clean the processed bird thoroughly with salt water (salt is a natural antibacterial and helps to clean away any "nasties") and then rinse with plain water to remove excess salt before cooking it and make sure it is cooked thoroughly, but then, I do the same for my own home-processed meat that I know where it came from.

 

[BWKatz]

Take it.

 

[MissJenny]

I would decline on principal -- animals, even those being raised for slaughter, ought to be provided a safe, healthy and dignified home by those who are supposedly higher up on the food chain and know better.

Just MHO and sometime I can't help but give it,
Jenny

 

[Tropical Chook]

The chickens you buy from your local grocery store usually live in even worse conditions, especially on the last day of their lives when they're thrown into crates, stacked one on top of the other, etc, etc, etc. If you ever saw the inside of a poultry processing plant, you would never eat store bought chicken again

 

[moonlyghtegirl]

DITTO...

Quote:

 

[Robo]

I would take them. I raise mine like that too. I just throw the feed on the ground and watch em scratch.