First time and a few questions (Warning: pics)

[catchthewind]

We had to kill a rooster yesterday. We had been debating keeping him as our flock's rooster but he'd started chasing kids which is obviously unacceptable. We watched a bunch of YouTube videos and then just went for it. In some ways, it was easier than I expected (I think his recently started aggression didn't help him endear himself to me), but harder too. It was very empowering too though, like now if something happened and we had to grow and raise our own food I know we could do it!

A couple of questions though. First of all, his organs all looked great, except for one kidney, which was green and soft. What would cause that? Should I be worried about the rest of the chickens? He was not quite 21 weeks old, so young still. I had recently switched the hens to layer feed, but that was less than two weeks ago and I'd mixed it really well with the non-layer so it was actually mostly non-layer still. Here's a picture, maybe I'm mistaken about it being a kidney and it's something normal, it's been years since I have done any of this kind of thing (I used to work at a vet clinic and help with surgeries). Should I be worried about the rest of my birds? Is the rest of him still okay to eat? We are going to do the rest of the roosters in a few weeks so I guess we'll have some idea then if it's a problem with more than the one bird.

Also, while we were dressing him we managed to get his digestive tract out in one piece, but then I cut the gizzard out and a small amount of poo leaked out. Didn't think much of it but my husband didn't realize and moved the bird to that same cutting board and got some poo on him. We sprayed him down with the hose right away and my husband even cut the skin off in that section. Is that something to be concerned about? Next time we know to keep a completely separate area for the bird, and better communication. I think a bit may have gotten on the feet too (which I'm going to use for stock) after we peeled off the scales, but I rinsed them off pretty well too.

Thanks!

 

[Judy]

I don't worry about a little poo, just rinse very well, as cooking properly will kill pathogens.

But I wish I knew the answer about that kidney. Makes me wonder if layer feed (calcium) caused stones and blockage. Also makes me wonder if he was a jerk because he was in pain. If so, you certainly did the best thing for him.

 

[booker81]

Those aren't his kidneys....those are....

Boy parts

 

[catchthewind]

Quote:
Thanks, I feel better about the poo now. And I almost want to slaughter another rooster sooner than we'd planned just to see if his looks the same. They have only been on the layer since the 12th, so less than two weeks, and I mixed it about 4 parts their old feed to 1 part layer at first, and it's only been the last couple of days it has been a higher ratio. I am almost out of their old feed and only have layer left, but I'm tempted to go out and get another bag of the old stuff to mix. We actually don't plan on feeding them layer, we are going to feed the maintenance feed and supplement oyster shell, but I got two bags of layer for free and didn't think two bags would do any harm.

 

[catchthewind]

Quote:
Okay, I just googled and I think you're right, though that means I completely missed the kidneys altogether. I wouldn't have expected his testicles to be that big! The questions remains though, what would cause a testicle to turn green and soft like that?

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Quote:
X2

Definite boy parts.

 

[Dogfish]

Poo happens. Just rinse well.

 

[fourgotten]

Those are certainly testes... the kidneys are held in cavities in the pelvis along the spine. If you've ever eaten a chicken thigh, you'll notice the greyish-greenish tissue in that cavity... that's the kidney...

Perhaps the rotting testicle is the reason why that roo got so aggressive toward the end... dunno what would have caused that... cancer, maybe? Wierd... looks necrotic...

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Those aren't kidneys... more like testicles. Seems like it may have been ruptured, should't hurt the meat at all. As for the second question, it happens, I wouldn't worry much about it.

 

[booker81]

They can get mighty big - the last roo I processed only came out dressed at 3lbs, but his cojones were the size of a medium egg each - almost twice the size of his heart.

As for the yucky one - possibly something went bad with it which resulted in the aggression. I wouldn't worry about it for overall health of the chicken as dinner, but I sure wouldn't fry one up....

As for poo - it happens. A quick cleaning of the area and safe food storage will pretty much eliminate any harm. The danger comes in with letting the yuck stay on the meat and letting the bacteria multiply in warmth - which is stopped if you clean off the area, and keep it in a fridge or freezer.