Safe to cook and eat the chicken?

[FarmingForFun]

I agree that you should eat it...eating the chicken would keep its death from just being a tragedy.
Sorry for your loss.
Hope you get the predator.

 

[Nambroth]

I would eat it. Cut off the rest of the neck and dress her as normal.

Rabies cannot be transferred to fowl, and it's a very fragile virus. So if she had any on her, it'd be dead by the time rest was done on the meat before you even got to cooking. Cooking would kill it quickly anyhow.

Buuut, wear gloves to cut the rest of the neck off and dress her, just in case.

Terribly sad to hear about your loss.

This is good advice. Even if a rabid animal was her killer, it couldn't have transferred it to her. I'd use gloves to remove the rest of the neck, and then clean her as normal and cook as you'd prefer. As long as she is cooked properly you should have no problems. Truthfully, her carcass will probably be much cleaner and healthier than any grocery store chicken meat you'd ever get, despite the method of her demise!

I'm terribly sorry for your loss!