What are these little little balls inside this hen? -Graphic Pics-

[Gingerbeer]

OK, I'm a newbie, so forgive me if this is a realy novice question. At the farmers market a few weeks ago, one of the egg selling guys was selling off his retired layers as stewing hens. I keep reading on BYC about the wonders of chicken stock made from *real* chicken so i bought one and froze it for a rainy day. I thawed it over 24 hours for crockpotting today.

When i reached in the cavity, i guess i was thinking i'd find the innards and organs i;m using to seeing when i buy a store bought chicken. But the cavity was really messy and bloody. The flesh and skin look fine, i think, but the innards were not really cleaned out and pretty darn bloody. i cut out the backbone so i could see better, and some of this stuff i just couldn't easily separate, so i left the backbone out of the stock

My questions:
-- was this chicken processed, um, conventionally? was it bled out correctly? Just want to know what to expect in my chicken future....

-- What are these yellow-orange balls? There are two of equal size, like big marbles, and two little ones (capers), and then several more teeny ones that were attached to the innards(where the knife points). My boyfriend thought maybe they were eggs-in-the-making, but from what i've read in my books that's not how it works.

Enlighten me!

 

[chicken_angler]

WOW! those are weird. Sorry im no help but to me, they dont look god.

Chicken_angler

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I'm curious...I can't help you but here is a bump.

 

[smith2]

Those little balls do look like undeveloped egg yolks, and overall the guy just did an awful job of processing. You need to finish cleaning the birds and rinse it very good. You also need to soak in brine for at least a few hours. I would wonder how sanitary were his processing practices. I would be very reluctant to buy meat through this avenue again. It might be clean, but do you really know. Just be sure you cook it very well.

 

[HLAC]

They're eggs.

 

[Gingerbeer]

Oh wow. Well, i didn't brine it OR rinse it, i just put in in the crock pot with water and vegetables for 8 hours. Do you think we can eat the broth, or should we just chalk it up to experience and eat something else for dinner?

 

[fasbendera]

Eggs or pre-eggs. After much discussion two years ago we butchered a Barred Rock that was a "rooster" (I wasn't as sure as the experts) and it was kind of neat for the kids because we were able to see the whole progression right down to a soft shell and real egg. When we gutted her the whole tube (not sure what you call it) came out in one piece so they were all inside of it at the various stages of development.

If you didn't process it and all of that was left inside I would be suspect. The earlier post may have the best idea. The only thing inside should have been the heart, gizzard and maybe liver.

 

[HLAC]

Crock pot will kill off more than just rinsing or brining would so you're okay there. I would really only worry about rinsing it if there were fecal matter on/in the bird. You'd likely have smelled it if that were the case.

When I processed pheasants, I had some people ask to have the ovaries kept with the hens. They're apparently good for eating. (eggs on the vine I guess) I never left them attached to the inside of the bird tho'.

 

[Gingerbeer]

Thanks guys. It's been smelling so good in this lil apartment all day...i'd toss the stock for safety reasons but i'm glad i don't have to.

but i will not buy from that guy again.

 

[the simple life]

That is a horrible processing job, he should be ashamed to sell something like that.
I personally would have tossed it out, but that is just me I guess. I just don't like the looks of it overall.
I am bothered by how bad it looks so I would wonder how clean his facilities were.
I would chalk it up to experience like you said, since its already cooked you have no way of telling if the meat was contaminated and you probably weren't really looking for that since you had other things about it that concerned you.
That is a ridiculous amount of blood to be left in a bird, if my processor did that to one of my chickens he would be getting an earful, it seems like the guy is inexperienced or just doesn't care.
I would sure show him that picture though.