Does free range chicken have a stronger smell?

[ChickenHawk12]

I am asking about chicken that I defrosted from our meat CSA. It was a whole chicken that I took out of the freezer (we pick the meat up already frozen) Sunday and it is now Tuesday. It's still semi-frozen, but defrosted enough to cut up. But when I opened the bag, it had a VERY strong smell. I only used one other chicken so far, and I don't remember it smelling like this. I'd hate to toss a good bird, but I don't want my family to get sick. It's got an extremely strong barnyardy kind of smell. Almost fishy, but not quite. I'm sorry if this is an out of line post, this is just my first time buying chicken from a farm instead of the supermarket and I'm not sure if I should expect it to smell different, or if it may be bad, and I thought those of you who raise meat chickens might know....

 

[Amina]

I see you were asking four days ago, so you probably already made a decision... But my chickens that I have processed have never had much of a smell. My guess is that your chicken went bad. Sorry.

 

[slingshotandLAR]

I am asking about chicken that I defrosted from our meat CSA.  It was a whole chicken that I took out of the freezer (we pick the meat up already frozen) Sunday and it is now Tuesday.  It's still semi-frozen, but defrosted enough to cut up.  But when I opened the bag, it had a VERY strong smell.  I only used one other chicken so far, and I don't remember it smelling like this.  I'd hate to toss a good bird, but I don't want my family to get sick.  It's got an extremely strong barnyardy kind of smell.  Almost fishy, but not quite.  I'm sorry if this is an out of line post, this is just my first time buying chicken from a farm instead of the supermarket and I'm not sure if I should expect it to smell different, or if it may be bad, and I thought those of you who raise meat chickens might know....

Don't eat it....

Something is wrong if it smells, we do LOTS of birds and they never smell.

Definitely call the CSA or whoever you got it from, that's unacceptable in my book, absolutely no excuse. You should expect a refund or replacement.

 

[ChickenHawk12]

Thank you both for your responses! I re-froze the meat and contacted the farmer (although I had already decided we weren't going to eat it). He advised me to toss it and is going to include an extra chicken in next month's order. Thanks again!!! I really appreciate the feedback

 

[hellbender]

Thank you both for your responses! I re-froze the meat and contacted the farmer (although I had already decided we weren't going to eat it). He advised me to toss it and is going to include an extra chicken in next month's order. Thanks again!!! I really appreciate the feedback

You might go so far as to find a new supplier. When chicken smells like fish and unless you are doing something wrong in handling the meat, something is going badly wrong at the source....

or, perhaps he's feeding fish chow to his birds. Lots of people do as a protein augmentation. If that's the case, he needs to back off just a bit with the amount of additive he uses. It doesn't take too much to cross the line.

 

[ChickenHawk12]

You might go so far as to find a new supplier. When chicken smells like fish and unless you are doing something wrong in handling the meat, something is going badly wrong at the source....

or, perhaps he's feeding fish chow to his birds. Lots of people do as a protein augmentation. If that's the case, he needs to back off just a bit with the amount of additive he uses. It doesn't take too much to cross the line.

Thank you for your advice. I defrosted another chicken this week and it smelled the same. This time, it was in the fridge for less than 24 hours and still mostly frozen when I opened the package. This is the first time there has been pastured meat available within 2 hours of my home, and it is the first time this farmer has done a CSA (before he only sold by the whole/half/quarter animal). I re-froze the 2nd chicken and am going to bring it with me to my next pickup so that the farmer can smell it as well.

One thought - could it be something like the chickens being too old when slaughtered? There are other people in this CSA. I can't imagine that I was the only one to have the misfortune of getting 2 bad birds.....

 

[enola]

I have butchered some pretty old roosters in my life. They didn't stink at any time during processing or during any step of preparation for eating. I would take the smelly ones back for a refund and then take my money somewhere else.

 

[NatureChica]

I've had bad meat from the supermarket plenty of times. Its gone bad long before the expiration date...it's so frustrating to waste the money and then not have anything to make for dinner. I have started being "that person" who smells a chicken through the plastic. I never touch my nose to the plastic but I'm sure it looks comical. I haven't gotten a bad chicken breast since I started doing that.

 

[hellbender]

I've had bad meat from the supermarket plenty of times. Its gone bad long before the expiration date...it's so frustrating to waste the money and then not have anything to make for dinner. I have started being "that person" who smells a chicken through the plastic. I never touch my nose to the plastic but I'm sure it looks comical. I haven't gotten a bad chicken breast since I started doing that.

I'll admit to going a bit farther...when I was a kid in college, I'd buy chicken from the market when I didn't have time to go to "Jew Town" (That area of Baltimore has been called that for a couple centuries and still to this day).

When at the super-market, I would shove a finger into the plastic and smell. I know...my bad but those were different times.

I would almost always go to Jew Town on Thurstays, buy one or two live chickens and have them butchered while I waited at Jack's on Lombard St.....Best sandwich shop in Charm City!!!