Harvest a bird with resistant infection in leg?

[Titantherooster]

Hi all, I have my 1 y/o Pekin duck whom I’d very much have liked to save but I don’t think it’s going to go that way. Back in December we actually took her to our vet who did bumble surgery on her foot and infection had spread up the leg. We had her on abx for probably a month or 5 weeks and she did recover from putting no weight on the leg to where she now limps around and mostly either gets into the stream or just sits most of the day by herself. I’d have hoped to see more progress but I’m thinking this may be as far as she goes.

If that’s the case to be humane I was going to harvest her but wondered if the meat would be ok with an active leg infection? Also not thrilled about her having been on abx for a while but hopefully if that was months ago maybe not an issue? Wondering anyone’s thoughts or if they know of research on this? Thanks!

 

[Parront]

Hi all, I have my 1 y/o Pekin duck whom I’d very much have liked to save but I don’t think it’s going to go that way. Back in December we actually took her to our vet who did bumble surgery on her foot and infection had spread up the leg. We had her on abx for probably a month or 5 weeks and she did recover from putting no weight on the leg to where she now limps around and mostly either gets into the stream or just sits most of the day by herself. I’d have hoped to see more progress but I’m thinking this may be as far as she goes.

If that’s the case to be humane I was going to harvest her but wondered if the meat would be ok with an active leg infection? Also not thrilled about her having been on abx for a while but hopefully if that was months ago maybe not an issue? Wondering anyone’s thoughts or if they know of research on this? Thanks!

Sounds to me like she is in pain and as long as the antibiotics were that long ago I would go ahead and process her. When you cook your bird, which I would roast or crock pot at that age, and that will kill any bacteria that might be in her system. This is why you use a meat thermometer for poultry! Sorry -- you tried very hard to keep her. Best wishes!

 

[3KillerBs]

I would personally discard the portion where there is an active infection.

 

[Folly's place]

It's best to discard the entire bird! There's no way this bird would pass inspection at a processing plant, with good reason. It's very possible that this infection is systemic with a drug resistant bacteria, and just shouldn't be handled without gloves on, much less cooked in the kitchen.
If she's miserable, humane euthanasia is good, just don't process her for food.
Mary

 

[Titantherooster]

It's best to discard the entire bird! There's no way this bird would pass inspection at a processing plant, with good reason. It's very possible that this infection is systemic with a drug resistant bacteria, and just shouldn't be handled without gloves on, much less cooked in the kitchen.
If she's miserable, humane euthanasia is good, just don't process her for food.
Mary

With respect I tend to agree with your conclusion and may very well choose not to harvest. However I don’t doubt for a minute that birds in her shape and far worse pass with ease in any commercial operation. The infection is not easily spotted and besides a minor limp she has and when held the leg is warm, otherwise she seems fine.

But yes perhaps to err on the side of caution I will discard. The lesser concern is the waste of meat, the greater that I actually feel it respects her more to use her for the intended purpose.

Either way thanks all for the comments.

 

[iwltfum]

With respect I tend to agree with your conclusion and may very well choose not to harvest. However I don’t doubt for a minute that birds in her shape and far worse pass with ease in any commercial operation. The infection is not easily spotted and besides a minor limp she has and when held the leg is warm, otherwise she seems fine.

But yes perhaps to err on the side of caution I will discard. The lesser concern is the waste of meat, the greater that I actually feel it respects her more to use her for the intended purpose.

Either way thanks all for the comments.

You're right. This bird probably would pass live inspection commercially, but realistically it probably would not have even been taken to butcher at all. There is a meat withholding period for most "treatment based" antibiotic use in poultry and, in fact, most food borne illnesses that come from poultry are due to antibiotic resistant variants of normal food borne pathogens! I would not risk it, esp if her infection has shown resistance to antibiotics. I would honestly isolate it from flock as soon as possible and incinerate the bird. Sounds extreme but you dont want to mess around with atibiotic resistances.

 

[Folly's place]

x2! And this is the reason that so very few antibiotics are actually approved for use in poultry! On this site, and others, there's lots of advice given concerning finding ways around this, as buying drugs intended for other species, and it's just not good.
Mary