Green slime under skin of quail

[als77]

I'm back into quails and need some help...

I culled 11 males (coturnix jumbo) today (11 weeks old) and one of those I skinned had a green slime between the skin and breast meat, but I couldn't see any green or issues when opening it up (i.e the intestines seemed fine) - he did seem to have some green "meat" (the ridge between his breast pieces). Also, there seemed to have been a fly inside him (where the green stuff was) - not an ordinary house fly, but one that looked flatter (I didn't see any worms though).

I got at bit paranoid so I believe I say some green stuff on the lungs of two of the other males, but might have been nothing (nothing on the remaining 8).

1) From what I can see it seems like this might be an infection of some sort? He seemed fine, and I didn't see any obvious injuries before culling him, but there was a dent at the very top of his chest so might be an old injury. Something to worry about for the remaining quail I have?

2) Is he still edible? (I don't like wasting life)

My male to female ratio is (well, was) way to high (25 females to 18 males) with feather picking (mainly females, but also some males), but hardly any fighting (and no injuries that I saw) - their aviary is around 60 sq ft (with 6ft ceiling + hiding spots + plenty of food 24/7)

 

[Nabiki]

Do you have pics? Green is the colour of quail bruises, but the slime makes me think infection of some sort. I would NOT eat the ones that you found with green slime.

In food safety, the rule is, "when in doubt, throw it out." It's better than getting sick or dying.

 

[Kiki]

I have never seen green myself. I'd like to see a picture too.
I would NOT eat it.

 

[als77]

Do you have pics? Green is the colour of quail bruises, but the slime makes me think infection of some sort. I would NOT eat the ones that you found with green slime.

In food safety, the rule is, "when in doubt, throw it out." It's better than getting sick or dying.

Sorry, I didn't take a picture. I put him in a (separate) container with water, but the green is gone - so too late to take a picture now.

Guess I'll just throw him away Unless anyone thinks otherwise I'm going to assume it was a bruise/wound that got infected, and no reason to worry about the remaining 32 (they now have a better ratio with 25 females to 7 males - still on the high side, but with plenty of space so I hope that will do - might remove another male or two later)

 

[007Sean]

Sorry, I didn't take a picture. I put him in a (separate) container with water, but the green is gone - so too late to take a picture now.

Guess I'll just throw him away Unless anyone thinks otherwise I'm going to assume it was a bruise/wound that got infected, and no reason to worry about the remaining 32 (they now have a better ratio with 25 females to 7 males - still on the high side, but with plenty of space so I hope that will do - might remove another male or two later)

If you have a cat or a dog you can feed it to them...debone it for the dog, though! It doesn't have to be a total waste.

 

[Susan Skylark]

You could cut out the wound until you have clean meat margins. Sounds like a wound/infection/fly strike. Or maybe a cuterebra bot (fly larvae that live under the skin in ground dwelling rodents but can end up in bunnies, cats, dogs and even birds), gross but cool (if one is weird!).

 

[als77]

You could cut out the wound until you have clean meat margins. Sounds like a wound/infection/fly strike. Or maybe a cuterebra bot (fly larvae that live under the skin in ground dwelling rodents but can end up in bunnies, cats, dogs and even birds), gross but cool (if one is weird!).

hmm It was green so maybe it was a Lucilia? Looked flattish, but I was busy trying to get rid of it rather than look at it

It didn't see any larvae, and I only saw this one fly