Spots on the liver

[dianebec]

New here and hitting the ground running so to speak.

We butchered 3 chickens this afternoon. 2 Hens and 1 rooster. The first hen, I noticed, had spots on her liver that were greenish in color and oddly shaped. The spots weren't round or anything, just blotchey. Her stomach was filled with water. She never acted sick with the exception that her egg production was non existent. Her sister and the rooster had no other problems I noticed, but I handled all three birds. My concern is the first hen A) might have something contagious to the other birds, and B) the meat from her and the other would now be contaminated. What should we do? Should we worry? Is the meat safe?

 

[CMV]

Do you have any pics?

When you say her "stomach was filled with water" do you mean her body cavity? If her body cavity was filled with fluid then she probably had internal laying/EYP which was why she never produced any eggs. Did you find any masses of yolk-like material that seemed out of place? I wouldn't eat that bird until you have a clearer picture of what was going on with her. Her meat likely won't harm you, but it seems a bit...unsavory...to eat a bird that may have had an infection.

 

[dianebec]

Sorry no pics. I didn't think about it at the time. When I say her stomach was filled with fluid or water (It was clear fluid) I mean her actual organ. No eggs were present except the very tiny ones. Her sister who also was butchered the same day had eggs in process we were sad to see. They haven't laid in over 2 months and that was with a light and everything we could think of to help them out. They were about 2.5 years old so we felt they had run their course. The liver itself was still bright red (Crimson color you know) but had three green blotches about .5 centimeter give or take. She never acted sick. She was never lethargic, she seemed to want to eat when we brought out the food. Egg production being non existent was the only clue to anything being wrong. Her sister did not have any such spots FYI. Oh and these were Isa Brown hens. Yo be honest, my husband and I both have health care experience and our first thought was cancer or cirrhosis. Some sort of liver disease.

 

[CMV]

Don't eat the liver then. The rest of the meat should be fine. The liver is probably fine, too, but green meat is a little disconcerting. Be glad you haven't seen green muscle disease. If you have, then you know what I am talking about.

Just out of curiosity- did you damage the gall bladder during processing? Any leakage from that would cause green discoloration on whatever meat it touched. I have processed a lot of birds over the years. Livers have had many and varied little issues, but never green spots unless I damaged the gall bladder.

 

[dianebec]

I didn't think I broke the gall bladder, but I have to say the cavities of all three of these bird was very narrow. I could barely get my hand in to remove the guts. It is entirely possible I guess. We did toss the liver. We don't care for them anyway. They usually go to the dogs, but I didn't feel comfortable giving it to them til I knew what it could be. Thanks.