Safe to eat potentially sick chicken ?

[SA gardener]

I have a 10 month old hen that hasn't layed a single egg. Two other chickens from the same batch started laying at 7 months old. So it's been 3 months since I expected her to lay but she hasn't

She had a cough/sneeze in winter before the others started laying. Not sure what it was but I didn't give her any medication. Not sure if that would have changed the fact that she doesn't lay. She currently has short breath and also has been plucking her feathers out of her back for some reason. I want to slaughter her but I'm not sure if the meat is safe to eat since I don't know what caused her to become sick and not lay

She is a real liability (feed costs + a bully chicken that harasses the other hens) at the moment.

Does anyone know what caused her to sneeze/ cough in winter and not lay and also given her short breath . And would the meat be safe to eat (for us, or if not then for my cat)

 

[ackie]

I've heard a lot of the respiratory problems chickens have are a result of MG/MS. If that's the case, its still safe to eat the chicken. (Unless you've given antibiotics, which I know you havent but just for anyone else reading this - in that case you have to wait the withdrawal period)

 

[nuthatched]

Feather plucking means she's in distress.
She could be egg bound, or have a reproductive disease to prevent her from laying. How do you know she's not laying? Was the run wet at some point for her to develop a respiratory issue?
You can probably eat her if she doesn't have a reproduction infection, nut I would only feed cooked chicken to the cat.

 

[SA gardener]

Feather plucking means she's in distress.
She could be egg bound, or have a reproductive disease to prevent her from laying. How do you know she's not laying? Was the run wet at some point for her to develop a respiratory issue?
You can probably eat her if she doesn't have a reproduction infection, nut I would only feed cooked chicken to the cat.

100% sure she hasn't layed by observing the hens every single day and at some point only had her and the other layer in the same coop. I pretty much saw the other hen lay every single day.

Coop is super dry , covered with a IBR roof and we have only gotten rain recently. The run is dry soil

 

[marli365]

I have a similar problem. For many months this larger-bantam (2.5 years old) has been growing a larger bottom, so that when it is hot, and she is resting on the cool pavement, she is bouncing up and down because she is lying on her lungs with her face close to the ground. She did, however, continue to lay very long cylindrical eggs until the molt this fall.

Increasingly she is even having trouble walking because of her giant behind, and is becoming very bad-tempered.
Last night we separated her out into her own house, since she has been causing so much trouble at bedtime. (This whole roosting bar is MINE!) I would like to cull her but my husband wants me to see what youall think about whether she is safe to eat or not. Other than her big behind, she does not act sick.

 

[Folly's place]

Very good old saying; "When in doubt, throw it out!"
I've never been hungry enough to eat meat from an animal who's ill, for whatever the reason. And having experience and training in meat inspection, nothing like that would pass inspection at a meat plant either.
It's good to end suffering, but eat it, no.
Mary