Part 0800.0005

[gt568]

Will a chicken with Peritonitis ever lay again?

 

And if I despatch a chicken with this will it still be safe to eat?

[Daphne]

There are 2 sorts of peritonitis. Sterile p and egg p. Not sure about the laying again from sterile p, but a hen with egg p is very unlikely to survive, so no she won't lay. You should never eat a bird that has died/been culled from a disease if it has been treated with any meds. Personally I would never eat a bird that died or was culled from disease anyway; you don't know whats been going on (and in the case of egg p, the bird will have an infected oviduct or other parts of her insides).

[Egluntyne]

I would agree that you shouldn't eat a hen that has died of peritonitis.....or any other disease for that matter.

 

Some advice that I was given was that if there is a leak of unexpected fluid from the abdomen of a hen that you didn't suspect was ill, when culled for the table, you should reject it, to be on the safe side.

 

TBH an elderly egg layer wont provide much in the way of meat.

[The Dogmother]

I wouldn't bother either, from an infection and lack of meat perspective.