Meat birds/poopy bottoms...is this healthy?

[3peeps]

I'm a novice so excuse me if this is a dumb question.

A friend of mine is raising meat birds for us and she had them in a tractor until just recently. They've gotten kind of big because the butcher is apparently out of commission for the moment. They got kind of crowded in the tractor and I notice that several of them have extremely poopy bottoms. As in, there are 6" diameter patches where the feathers are hanging down with matted manure.

My gut tells me that this just isn't right. But I notice that most of the birds are very lazy, probably from being hybrids that are so meat-heavy. As in they might be pooping while laying down. (?) What's acceptable, and when would I need to worry?

How do butchers process birds that come in like this in order to keep everyone healthy?

 

[Motherhenandflock]

It's probably from being big and crowded and not moving around much. Some of my meat birds had that too. If you watch them poop

they barely stand up and they poop a lot. So it just becomes a klingon.
If they are over 7-8 weeks old they are ready to process. Heat will bother them and most people restrict their feed, like picking it up at night. They aren't the most long-lived bird. What I'm saying is, they may start to kick the bucket. Try to get them processed ASAP. Is anyone else able to do the deed?

 

[3peeps]

I'm not sure my friend wants to find anyone else...this butcher is very reasonable and she's also raising them for herself.

I didn't realize they have such a short life span. But it makes sense. They are pretty freakish and sad looking. Not the brightest either...I held a piece of clover in front of one and it just laid down. :|

 

[ChicksinBoise]

Keep a close eye on the poopy bottoms. If it gets too built up maggots will slowly start in...not a pretty sight and even worse smell. I lost my appetite for chicken for about a month after I encountered this poor guy. We immediately butchered him but had to throw away about half the meat due to the maggots. They had worked their way all the way up into one of his legs...this was in a matter of about 2 days.

 

[silkiechicken]

Poo sticks to mine too... even though they could free range if they would get their stinky heads away from the feed and water. I have moved the food and water supplies around to no avail... they poo so much, it just sticks to them! The sooner to butcher the better.

 

[chickiepoo]

Quote:
Silkie, If you really want them to free range a bit, why don't you try taking up the feed when they go to bed at night, and then when they wake up they will be more motivated to free range. Then you can but the feed back out later. Whenever.