What is this on the kidney?

[Mylied]

I processed a handful of cockerels yesterday. One has these yellow ball like things on one of his kidneys. Google is not helping. What is it and is the meat safe to eat?

 

[JasperMoon]

they could be the adrenal glands? http://www.poultryhub.org/physiology/body-systems/excretory-system/

 

[Mylied]

they could be the adrenal glands? http://www.poultryhub.org/physiology/body-systems/excretory-system/

I don't think so. It didn't look like the pics. Plus I've never seen it before and it was only on one kidney on one chicken. Thanks for the help though.

 

[Mylied]

It was kidney stones. How strange. I asked one of my teachers at college who is a veterinarian.

 

[Mosey2003]

I know they say not to feed layer feed to males because the excess calcium affects their kidneys... Did he have access to oyster shell and maybe gorged on it? Kind of surprising to have stones show up that young, I would think, but I'm certainly no expert. Thank you for posting though, now I'll know what it is if I ever see such a thing.

 

[lazy gardener]

Stones would be inside the kidney. Not on top of it. Sorry, i don't buy your professor's explanation.

Unless the photo you showed was a cross section. were these objects soft or hard? They look like fatty deposits or fatty tumors. They are located where one would expect to find adrenal gland.