Is it ok to eat?

[RainyDog]

Or rather, feed to the dogs.

Hello, everyone. I am new here, and I was wondering if I could solicit some advice about a fowl subject. I am new to but excited about processing a chicken.

I am visiting friends, with no chicken processing experience, who just purchased a whole mess of chickens today. Unfortunately, one of them died during transport. I haven't seen it yet, but they say that it got its head stuck and broke its neck. They also said rigor mortis set in. The chicken was not butchered and was placed in a refrigerator. They plan on burying it or burning it in a fire. I plan on butchering it tomorrow and feeding it to the dogs raw. Am I crazy? Should I let them bury/burn it? At the very least, I figure that it will be a learning experience that I shouldn't pass up.

I assume that the biggest issue is the fact that it had not been butchered before being placed in the refrigerator.

If it is ok to feed to the dogs, will I have difficulty bleeding it out?

Thanks in advance. Any insight you can provide is appreciated.
Jenn

 

[Erica]

It will be a little hard to deal with, being stiff, but I would take it outside and process it for dog food, personally. The dogs won't mind how it died.
There may be reasons not to do this, so listen to other answers... But personally I hate it when a life gets wasted.
Failing that, plant under a tree...
cheers
Erica

Edited to add: you won't be able to bleed it out successfully. That requires a beating heart. But if you piece it up, or maybe bone it first, a lot of blood will escape the meat that way. You don't want to store this bird for long, so the blood in the carcass won't be an issue (blood makes meat go off quicker). Again, the dogs won't mind.

 

[galanie]

I'm with Erica. It will be kinda hard to do since it's stiff but get those guts out and chop her up for the dogs. They'll love the liver and heart too. The rest of the guts go into the trash. There's more I could add but your first butchering, and with a stiff carcass, keep it simple.

 

[Oregon Blues]

The flavor and texture will be a bit off, but the dogs won't care.

You know it died of an accident and not disease and it was refrigerated, so I say OK for the dogs.

It would probably be OK for you, too, but you might not enjoy it much since it wasn't bled and leaving the guts in will give the meat a slightly stronger taste.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

I would say skin it and gut it and let the dogs have an early "holiday dinner". I've seen what MY dogs so indiscriminately will eat...I bet the majority of the dog population is the same...don't be surprised if they take off with a bit you don't want them to eat (our puppy LOVES the gut bucket and whatever he can pull outta there when I turn my back and I have given up trying to out think him on keeping them away - course he loves poo too...go figure...)

I bet the dogs love you more for it after they get a chicken dinner!

 

[RainyDog]

Thanks everyone. It took me forever, but I did it. One strange thing that happened was that the carcass filled up with water while I was scalding it. And while the bird did not appear the be in rigor mortis, the meat was VERY tough. It was quite the learning experience. I am anxious to try it again with a fresh bird.


And yes, the dogs loved it... even if it was tough. I imagine it was even more fun for them because it was tough,