Okay to eat a bird that "aged" with feathers in fridge?

[dawnbigfoot]

A dog got one of my chickens, and I'd like to harvest the chicken for the dogs. I didn't have time to de pluck and do all that, so I basically took off her head, hung her for an hour, and put her, feathers/organs/and all, in the refrigerator in a few bags. I assume there's no issue with boiling/deplucking and giving her to the dogs, but just wondering. It's been about 48 hours, probably won't get to it til tomorrow.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

I imagine its the organs that may pose a problem rather than the feathers. There are some cultures that leave most of all of the guts inside for a while before eating, but I have heard this gives the meat a very strong taste. I do not know if that is true. If you're just giving it to the dogs I don't think they will care, but make sure none of the organs have burst or leaked.

 

[AkChris]

People often hang game birds to age for days or even weeks. As long as there is no organ damage causing intestines to leak into the body cavity it should be fine. If you're just feeding it to the dogs then it really doesn't matter. They won't care about the taste and their stomachs can handle quite a bit more than ours can.

 

[dawnbigfoot]

Thank you, all!

 

[cassie]

You might find this of interest. Back in the Dark Ages when I was young, you bought chickens whole. Meaning they were plucked but that's it. They still had their heads, feet, and innards. You gutted them when you got them home. They were sold with the head and feet on so you could tell it was a young chicken and not an old rooster or stewing hen.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I was going to add my own thumbs up to proceeding to process the chicken for your dogs but everyone above has done an excellent job and covered all my points. Remember, dogs can eat carrion without harmful affects. Their digestive tracts were designed for it. That said, often when you change up a dog's diet...epecially if they usually only get a certain brand of kibble, it can take awhile for their system to start producing the necessary digestive enzymes for processing something new. If your dogs don't usually get fresh, cooked chicken, you might stew it up with some sweet potatoes and then portion it out into baggies or tupperware containers and give them some chicken, some of the organ meat along with some broth and sweet potatoes mixed in with their regular kibble. I do this when I have to dispatch a sick or injured chicken, expecially if I don't have time to process it right away. I've done exactly what you have described and my dogs have thanked me for it.