Tree branch fell and killed chicken. OK to eat?

[PaleMelanesian]

During the night a tree branch fell on the coop and killed one of my hens. Her neck was broken, but there were no other signs of injury. She was healthy yesterday. The body was stiff when I found it this morning. Is that soon enough to be safe for eating?

 

[violetsky]

Wouldnt the meat be bad since it wasnt bled?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Sorry to hear about your bird.

I"m not sure if the meat would be good or not.

 

[Oregon Blues]

What was the air temperature?

If it was refrigerator cold, it is probably safe to process and eat the meat. If it wasn't near freezing, I'd throw it away. You don't know how long the body was sitting out there warm.

 

[Illia]

As said previously. The bleeding out part doesn't fully matter, it's the "could she have gone bad by now" part that matters.

If it was decently cold outside I'd process her and feed her to the dogs after a good time in the freezer though, but that's me.

for your loss!

 

[PaleMelanesian]

I didn't do it, but I did think about it. I'm curious for next time.

It was mid-50's and I estimate she was dead 3-4 hours. I know when the storm came through last night.

 

[TexasAggieOfc]

With the way the temps were last night (I see you're also in NE Texas), I can't imagine she would have set up too much...

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

If it was already stiff, without having the bowel removed I wouldn't eat it. A fresh kill, yeah, but I would call it too late with rigormortis. Cook it and feed the dogs, they have a tougher gut. Besides, with a crush injury, the bowel could have been perforated anyway