Lost a chicken, no idea why, ok to eat?

[potocki99]

Just went out to gather eggs, and she was dead. No clue why! I will take a picture and post it.

 

[pattycake]

If I didn't know why a chicken died, I wouldn't eat it. And I wouldn't eat anything that died of an illness!

 

[RhodeIslandRedFan]

If I didn't know why a chicken died, I wouldn't eat it. And I wouldn't eat anything that died of an illness!

X2.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
x3

 

[Pharm Girl]

Oh man, I feel your pain. I just went out to lock up the chickens for the night and there was a dead one on the floor. Never had that happen before. She was unharmed and has been laying eggs and acting fine up until I found her dead. She was my youngest too. Not even one year old yet. Not sure if I should get it checked out or just bury her and hope the others don't start dropping. What are you going to do?

 

[mlm Mike]

If I didn't know why a chicken died, I wouldn't eat it. And I wouldn't eat anything that died of an illness!

X4

 

[potocki99]

Yea, my hubby took it to work.

I hate this - I just don't know what happened! She was one that we named "Runt" cause she was always a little behind and different - she never did lose her back fuzz. Her head was a little smallish too, so maybe there was something that we didn't know about. But, its a real bummer. Gotta go check them here in a few and hoping we don't have another dead one.

 

[Pharm Girl]

Mine were all alive this morning. I'm going to perform a necropsy on my little girl this morning. I figure it will be a good way to figure out if they have worms or lice or got into something poisonous while free ranging. I'm hoping my stomach can handle it! Let us know what happened to your little one.

 

[CMV]

I wouldn't eat a bird that I found dead. Most diseases are not transmissible to humans, so it has nothing to do with the possibility of a disease. (In fact, diseases are pretty common in commercial meat flocks. Travel on over to the Meat Birds section and prepare to be enlightened.) It is more that the bird could have been lying around for hours and is going to be tough to process appropriately. They don't bleed out well enough to suit me and the meat is gamy tasting and dark when that happens.

"Runt" sounds like she may have been a failure to thrive that lasted a bit longer than she should have. Consider it a testament to the good care you give them that she hung on this long. She likely had some genetic flaws that rendered her weak. If she had obvious external flaws (small, small head, lack of adult feathering), she likely had less obvious internal flaws as well.

Sorry for your losses potocki99 and Pharm Girl.

Good luck.

 

[SteveBaz]

Yes I would also agree with the majority. Sorry about the expression but few would eat road kill, why to much damage and you don't know the animal or how it was raised. Even though you know how yours was raised you did not know what the cause of death was and would be cautious and suspicious of anything that I would eat except from a reliable source or me.