Is my cornish x safe to eat?

[drafthorserider]

I have 27 cornish x's which will be processed in 11 days. They are almost 7 weeks old. One hen was looking a little blueish and had been listless since yesterday, so I suspected heart failure and butchered her today so she didn't suffer or go to waste.

I normally have them prof. processed by a local shop, so haven't processed a lot of them. While I was skinning/wacking up the meat on this one - I always tell myself I will sit down and learn how to cut them up properly after I am forced to process 1-2 each year! - I found a lot of yellowish fluid in her cavities which I had never seen in the few I had to process before. It ran out of several different places as I was rotating her around while I was cutting her up. I presume this is fluid building up from heart failure - is that correct? If so, does that mean she is still safe to eat or should she be thrown away?
Thank you for your help.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I a sorry you had his happen, but you were wise to take the action that you took.

The fluid you found in her abdominal cavity is known as ascites.....can happen in humans in liver failure or in congestive heart failure. It will not affect the meat.

I had to process one emergently last week....he had the same symptoms, only worse....his comb was cyanotic. His abdomen was distended, and I suspected fluid so I just skinned him and harvested the breasts, wings, legs, and thighs rather than open the abdominal cavity. He even had fluid leak out of the joints in his legs when I cut off his feet.

But you did, and cleaned her out, so she should be just fine to eat. I made white chicken chili with mine last night for supper.....was absolutely delicious.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I forgot to mention: You might want to let the meat rest in the fridge for 3-4 days. Because of the congestive heart failure, the blood may not have drained quite as well, and the rigor mortis that the meat needs to go through to insure tenderness in the meat may be prolonged. So rather than 48 hrs, it may take another 24-48. I don't know if you cut her up or not, but if the carcass is intact, then just check the legs. If they move easily and do not seem stiff, then the bird should be ready to cook.

 

[drafthorserider]

Thank you so much for your very detailed and informative reply. I really appreciate it.

I will be sure to let her rest in the fridge for a few days. Thank you for the heads up as I would have cooked her tomorrow had you not mentioned waiting for additional time. She is eventually going to be a chicken pot pie.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Chicken Pot pie sounds really good right now. We are having cool damp rainy weather right now, so warm comfort food would really hit the spot!!!

 

[drafthorserider]

It was really good.

I will definately be making it again.

We will be putting 25 cornish x in the freezer this coming Saturday. The resting worked really well for this single bird. Should I try to rest these before they are frozen or does it work equally well to rest them after they are frozen? Is 3-4 days standard resting time? I realized that on the first ones we had done last year I only let them rest a day and maybe that was why they were tougher (they were also dual purpose birds, so older too).

 

[B J Hopkins]

This is good information.

We are raising Cornish x for the first time this year, and I didn't know about letting them "rest" after they are cleaned. Mine are only 2.5wks old at this time, so not butchering until the middle of June.