Which of these predator wounded birds would you eat?

[jack0]

I am interested in hearing what people think makes a chicken too risky to eat in regard to wounds from predators. I would like to hear from people who have a reason for what they say besides just being grossed out.

Here are three scenarios:

1. A chicken gets a toe eaten off by a predator. The wound is treated, and the bird appears to fully recover before it is time to slaughter.

2. A chicken gets a wound to the leg, and the wound festers some. The bird seems to recover fully before it is time to slaughter, but limps around badly.

3. A chicken gets a wound to the leg, and the wound festers some. The bird seems to recover in spirit, but the wounded leg looks real bad and seems to be getting worse, so you decide you need to kill the chicken.

4. A chicken gets a wound to the leg, and the wound festers some. The bird becomes so listless and unspirited that you decide you need to kill the chicken.

5. A predator eats the bottom half of the leg off of the chicken. The chicken is still alive but needs to be killed immediately.


Right now, I think I would eat birds 1 and 2. Is there any reason not to?

I would consider eating birds 3 and 4 and just discarding the wounded tissue, but I would want to research it some more first.

I would not eat bird 5. I just had this happen last night. I killed the bird and buried it. I would eat it in theory, but because I know the predator was a mammal, I did not want to risk contracting rabies (maybe a very small risk) from handling the bird for cleaning, which would be covered in the saliva of the mammalian predator (only mammals carry and contract rabies). If the bird were magically cleaned and cooked, I would eat it. Maybe if it were wounded by a hawk it would be OK?

 

[CHICKEN CRAZY1]

I would eat the 1 and 2 chickens.If the chickens wound is not festered badly I would not eat the festered part.I wouldn't eat birds 4 and 5.Listlessness is probably a sign that the wound is infected,hurts or is diseased.If the bird is killed by a predator do not eat it.Who knows what kind of diseases the animal had? If the bird was attacked and lived,but the wound was bad it would be o.k. to eat,because a disease didn't kill it,you did to stop suffering.

 

[milleryardchx]

1 or 2 the others I would cull and burn or burry

 

[phalenbeck]

#3 and 4 are boiled with rice and whatever for homemade dog food/soup/stew

 

[Oregon Blues]

I would not eat a bird that currently had an infected wound. Healed wounds or non-infected wounds are not an issue for me; I'd eat those. I would also eat a freshly attacked and freshly wounded bird.

Age and size of the attacked birds would be a consideration. Probably no to any bird killed by a predator unless I saw it die. I don't eat dead animals when I don't know how long they have been lying there dead.

Antibiotic withdrawal time is also a consideration, if I have been treating a wounded bird, I don't leave wounded birds to live or die on their own. They are either dispatched or treated, depending upon the severity of the wound.

 

[cutechick2010]

I wouldn't eat any bird with an infected wound either. Also, if it was wounded badly enough to need antibiotics, I would kill it immediately anyway, as I don't want the meds in our meat.

 

[DianeS]

I'd have no problem with #1 and #2, but I think I would need to see the wounds personally on the others.

After all, I'd eat a bird that had bumblefoot, even if the site were red, which is technically a festering infection. So #3 could still be edible if we're talking about a slice to the lower leg that is red around it. But a big, gaping wound on the thigh? No way.

Similar questions about #4. Listlessness and lack of spirit can be signs of severe pain, too. (A broken leg with no infection could cause it.) So I'd have to know what the original wound was, and see what "getting worse" was. Location matters on this one too - low leg or meaty thigh.

Plus, timing matters. If I'm working on the bird, trying to heal it for days or weeks, I'm less likly to eat it after giving up because of the amount of time the infection has been in the bird's system. But if a meat bird shows up on Monday with a cut that is apparantly from something in the coop, it looks worse on Tuesday so I slaughter it? Yeah, I'd probably still eat that bird. "worse" is really subjective.

I doubt I'd eat #5 at all. Unless the predator was my own dog or cat that I knew was healthy. If my own dog cleanly bites the leg off a chicken and I have to put the chicken down, I'm likely to still eat it. But if I find it in the run, apparantly victim to a raccoon or similar? No way.