Safe to Eat, or not Safe to Eat?

[cluckcluckgirl]

Last year in September, we were forced to take care of a rooster due to his high aggressiveness. It was too late to pluck him and gut him, so we wrapped him in a couple plastic bags and put him in the freezer. He's still in there. We didn't cut any body parts off him, so there's only a hole in his neck where a beebee punctured his skin and the main rooster did the rest. Is it safe to eat him?

 

[LilyD]

Last year in September, we were forced to kill a rooster due to his high aggressiveness. It was too late to pluck him and gut him, so we wrapped him in a couple plastic bags and put him in the freezer. He's still in there. We didn't cut any body parts off him, so there's only a hole in his neck where a beebee punctured his skin and the main rooster did the rest. Is it safe to eat him?

Personally I don't think I would with him not being gutted or plucked but I'm no expert.

 

[bobbi-j]

I wouldn't. It may be safe, but I think your meat would be off-flavored. I just wouldn't....

 

[smilingcat]

Well, he is going to be a mess to gut and clean him. Without going into gory detail of what has happened to the internal organs, lets just say that it's not worth the time.

If you decide to gut/dress the bird, the best bet is do it while its partially frozen. and after you've dressed the bird, I don't know if brining would help remove the blood. Probably not. So it would taste either metallic or too gamey.

If you have a dog or a cat, remove the brest meat, legs, thigh, and wings and cook. you could feed the cooked meat and I'm sure the cat or the dog wouldn't mind about the off taste.

I hope the bird was sitting in a deep freezer and not just your fridge freezer.

just my 2 cents.

 

[Christie Rhae]

cook him and feed him back to the flock. They love cooked chicken.

 

[twentynine]

Gee! To much here to even begin figuring.

If you can't clean him when you kill him, why kill him at that time. And he was spurred to death by another rooster after being crippled. Shot him with a BB gun, evidently watched him being spurred to death, then picked up, rolled up, and put in the freezer.

Well, to answer your question, no I would not do anything with him other than butting him in the garbage, maybe I'd bury him. If that is truly the way he died, he is going to be pretty bruised up.

I raise my own chickens to provide eggs and meat, so I can be sure that the chickens were cared for humanely. I give them a good life, feed them good, protect them from harm. When it is time to send one to the big frying pan in the sky, I do it quickly, with reverance and respect. I can't imagine how long it took your bird to die, it may have been pretty quick, but I am sure he went scared, and painfully.

 

[Oregon Blues]

It won't poison you. I would expect meat to be off-flavored and tough. If you are going to clean him and eat him, do him in the crock pot with some sort of strong flavorings. Garlic or teriyaki sauce.

Or cook him and feed to your dogs or cats, if you have any.

I wouldn't want an uncleaned chicken in my freezer with my other food. Just sayin'.

 

[Reurra]

Might be a bit gamey. If its like deer, if they are not gutted right away, the glands and internal organs start to break down and taint the meat. So the time it took him to freeze as well as thawing time will probably end up being just nasty.

If he is a really pretty rooster and his plumage is still good and he is relatively undamaged, maybe a taxidermist might want him. Sometimes they work on poultry to teach students about stuffing birds. Just a thought.

 

[partsRheavy]

Next time, plan better. You need to do a little planning to process Mr. Mean Roo into edible food.

Catch Mr. Mean Rooster off the roost when he comes home to roost at nightfall. Put him in a cage away from the flock with food and water until 8-12 hours before you are READY to process him.

When you're ready to process, have available a very sharp knife, bucket, a large pot with scalding water (about 140F), poultry shears, bucket, good source of running water, and an outdoor table (plastic picnic tables work fine) preferably near your kitchen. Have some space in the fridge. You can also get a "gut hook" from knife sellers online or at flea markets.

You need the running water when gutting.

Have buttermilk or otherwise apple cider vinegar, citrus fruit/juice and/or wine available. After he's gutted and cleaned, let him "relax" in the fridge with the buttermilk for 24 h to tenderize before eating. Buttermilk works well for this purpose. However, if _coq au vin_ is on the menu and Mr. Mean Rooster isn't a teetotaler, he can partake of wine in his afterlife......

Set aside an hour or two to do the first one,

As he is, I would practice scalding, plucking and gutting with this one and then feed the breast and leg meat, cooked, to a pet or possibly the rest of the flock. I wouldn't use it for human consumption.

Learn a few lessons from this one, and when the next problem roo comes along....he will be quite tasty...

Also, I don't like to butcher in extremely hot weather like 100 degreesF. If you can put the problem roo up in a shaded or covered cage somewhere and feed and water him a few days until a more moderate day, you may want to do that.