To eat, or not to eat?

[wolfkook]

One of my hens had a freak accident this morning. She was found, hanging by her neck, in between the gate and the fence at about 8:30 am. Sunrise was at 6:30, so she couldn’t have been there any longer than about 2-3 hours. She wasn’t sick, had no known health problems, and it was wasn’t a predator.
I hate to waste the meat, and she wasn’t even room temp yet, but I also wasn’t feeling too keen on getting my family sick
For future reference, what are some thoughts on this?

 

[Molpet]

What was the air temperature? Was she in rigor mortis?

I have found owl kill with the turkey not in full rigor and it's high 50s f.
Legs usually aren't touch but breast has talon holes. I harvest the legs.
I figure the cooking will kill most bacteria. I haven't gotten sick.

 

[Molpet]

Used to be common to hang gamebirds

https://honest-food.net/on-hanging-pheasants-2/

 

[3KillerBs]

Used to be common to hang gamebirds

https://honest-food.net/on-hanging-pheasants-2/

I have a 1930's cookbook recommending that the cook purchase chickens that have been killed and plucked but not drawn "because the butcher invariably makes too large an opening".

I would probably be inclined to open her up and see if I detect any spoilage odor.

If not, well, the long cooking appropriate to a mature bird will kill any potentially pathogenic bacteria.

 

[wolfkook]

What was the air temperature? Was she in rigor mortis?

I have found owl kill with the turkey not in full rigor and it's high 50s f.
Legs usually aren't touch but breast has talon holes. I harvest the legs.
I figure the cooking will kill most bacteria. I haven't gotten sick.

It was mid 70s and rigor mortis had already set in. If it weren’t for the fam, I’d probably have risked it, but hubs and father-in-law both said it wasn’t worth it. Such a good looking bird to go to waste!

 

[Coops Dad]

I've used killed birds to raw feed my dogs. Rough pluck (dogs don't care if you miss a few feathers, lol), gut, quarter and into the bowl along with the liver, gizzard, heart and lungs.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

^^^ animal feed, or burn and turn (into the garden). Nothing is wasted on my property, its eat or be eaten.