Question about slaughter. Our chicken's skins are Pink/Reddish Help =)

[Lisha]

We just slaughtered our Meat Birds and we are noticing pink/reddish skin. When we slaughtered this morning we cleaned the insides but did not pull out the lungs (we're doing it now). And we're noticing some of our chickens have a reddish/pink tint to their skin, it's not all of the chickens but like 5 or 6 so far that we've found. It's not affecting the meat color. Is this because the lungs were left in or is there something else going on? Are the chickens still ok to eat? Please oh Please say yes

Thanks so much!

 

[galanie]

I see no reason why they wouldn't be fine to eat. Maybe they were just embarrassed w/out any feathers! Seriously though, most white-skinned chickens skin looks pink at first to me.

 

[booker81]

How did you kill the chickens?

I'll get a reddish one if I don't get a good bleedout, but it's totally normal and harmless.

Lemme see if I can find a pic of a bunch, they kinda range in hue, very slightly.

Found it:

 

[Lisha]

Thanks so much galanie and Booker!! Ours look like the ones in the pic, maybe they didn't get a good bleed out. I was worried that it was because we left the lungs in for a couple hours while we finished the other birds.

 

[MetalSmitten]

any chance that the birds got a touch of sunburn beforehand?

 

[Oregon Blues]

If they sit in water that has blood in it, the skin that is in the water will get a red tint to it.

Also, I've heard that if the bird isn't dead when it goes into the plucker, the skin will come out red. I don't know about that. We chop heads, so no question about whether or not the bird is dead.

I don't take lungs out until after the bird is cooked. No harm to the meat or flavor. Roast lung is a dog treat.

 

[OwlLover]

I wouldn't turn down something that looks that good over its skin

 

[galanie]

Quote:
HAHA! Me either!!

 

[quailmale]

Are your birds free range? I ask because what they eat can cause skin tinting. Some commercial guys put Merigolds in their feed so the skins are real Yellow.