Organ on instestine -- what is it?

[TimG]

I noticed today while cleaning out the innards that there is a liver colored organ attached to a chicken intestine. It's sort of kidney bean shaped, but a bit bigger than a bean. Is this actually a kidney? If not, what is it?

Sorry, no picture, but I'm sure someone will know from my description.

 

[longranger]

Sounds like the gizzard. If it is the organ will be firm and filled with grit and small stones when you cut across it.

 

[dancingbear]

A gizzard is a LOT bigger than a bean. With an area of tough white tissue on two sides. Is that what it looks like?
Or is it sort of a little red-brown ball, no big white areas on it, just solid red-brown? About as big as a small marble? If so, that's the spleen.

In a chicken, the kidneys are the liverish-looking tissue deep in the "pockets" of the inside of the lower back portion. They aren't shaped at all like kidneys in mammals. It's usually still there in commercially prepared birds.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
No, it wasn't the gizzard. Yes, solid red-brown (same basic color as the liver) and marble size is close enough, although it was a bit elongated rather than spherical. Spleen sounds good.

Thanks for describing the kidneys, I've often wondered what those were on commercial birds. I'm pretty sure we pulled them out of our birds and just thought they were leftover something that we didn't get completely with the first extraction.

Tim

 

[dancingbear]

Yeah, sounds like a spleen. They can be round or a little oblong.