So, I'm in the middle of processing 23 cornish crosss from Welp hatchery. I've done half of them (all cockerels) and so far every single chicken has those. Seems like a line of balls of muscle fibers (meat) with a lot of connective tissue in between that goes along their necks. I separate it out along with the esophagus and trachea after I remove the head, and before removing and discarding the crop. I've just been removing it and discarding it, although I could probably add it to the pot of things I boil for stock - seems like normal muscle fiber to me - I assumed it had something to do with the neck.
All the CX I've processed so far are healthy (for cornish cross), and 6-9 weeks old. I've kept them in an open air covered run (no free ranging due to predators) and fed 12 hrs daily of 20% meat bird food. Regular water (no ACV) from 5 gal buckets with horizontal nipples. All the organs have looked great, no signs of disease.
That being said, this is my first batch of meat birds and I haven't processed any of my egger / dual purpose cockerels yet, so I'm pretty new at this.
Cooked one of my broilers aged 6 wks (that had this) and it was delicious.
ETA: If this is a problem (that anyone knows about) I'd definitely like to know, I assumed not since I've had no issues and my chicks have been healthy with low probability of having caught something.
The Meat Bird Forum is usually where I ask questions about stuff I find when processing chickens.
