purple meat in blue chickens?

[MilkMaid]

Hello,

We butchered our first blue wyandotte rooster last weekend (he was attacking my 3 year old) and found that the meat itself is bluish purple too. I had a really hard time getting past that. Is this normal for this breed and color or was something wrong there?

Rebekah

 

[LarryPQ]

WOW. That would weird me out.

Could it have been a bruise? Perhaps you didn't bleed it long enough? Pictures?

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

My Cuckoo Marans rooster that we butchered last year was a purplish tint, post a picture, but what I believe you are describing is a real chicken not a hybrid white meat chicken that the supermarket sells. Your rooster was a lot more active than those birds which have no room to move, movement and muscle give the meat color. Also as someone else suggested you may not have let it bleed out enough. Age it 24-48 hours in the fridge before eating and you should have decent meat.

 

[MilkMaid]

We let it bleed out for 20 minutes to an hour, I don't really remember, but it was about as long as the other few times we have butchered roosters. I took some pictures but am about to head out of town so will post them when I get back. I think it is mostly the dark meat that is purple, but the white meat has a bluish hew to it also. lol

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

So did our entire bird, maybe someone else has a better answer

 

[ElioraImmanuel]

I'd like to know the answer to this one....I don't believe that hubby would eat blue/purple meat.

 

[petrelline]

Are you used to heritage breed chickens? The dark meat in a dual purpose heritage chicken, especially one that has been running around and that has some age on it, is really dark. The difference between the light and the dark meat can be really striking.

See, for example, this woman's roasted wyandotte. The legs do look totally purple. http://twitpic.com/1ixt6s

Cut up you can see the difference between the light and dark meat: http://twitpic.com/1ixtsu

This is totally normal for a heritage chicken.

 

[LarryPQ]

Dude. I am hungry now. So much for "Salad Day"

 

[MilkMaid]

Oh wow, that is exactly the color of our bird. So I guess it *is* normal then. Well that is good to know. I guess I will have to get used to it, since all I have are heritage breeds, and I don't plan on getting any others any time soon.

 

[smartlittleroo]

Quote:
Thanks for posting the links to those pictures. The rooster I had to dispatch this weekend looked exactly like that! My questions: is it normal for the fat on a free-range bird to be bright yellow? The skin on my rooster was really tough. Is that normal for free-range birds as well?