If you do discover a worm problem, red pepper flakes in their feed are a good start towards remedying the issue. Birds can’t taste the spice. Also deters rats from the food. Happy homesteading.
ETA: I have 18 years of experience processing homegrown poultry. Your bird looks totally normal and healthy.
Aussiealterego
Those look like maggots.
Lorindel_wallis
There are maggots on your chickens. How long has this been dead for?
EnduringFulfillment
How long has the bird been dead?
Breddit2225
Are they moving?
Edit: you have to zoom quite a bit to see them.
SuperBaconjam
Undeveloped feathers and the follicles that grow them. They slide out of the skin when the birds get plucked.
BaylisAscaris
Feathers. If you do see worms, just make sure the chicken is fully cooked and it’s safe to eat.
Competitive-Still-27
I just see insides of bloodfeathers/pinfeathers/developing feathers growing in. Normal. FYI there is a helpful scraping tool you can buy with bird butchering tools that helps scrape those developing pinfeathers off when butchering. It’s kind of a blunt butter knife looking thing.
Also if those things were wiggling then you’ve got something else on your hands lol
paleolithicmegafauna
When plucking the incompletely-grown-out long feathers, particularly on the wings, you will get these long strands of nerve tissue that provides the nutrients and circulation to the growing feathers. These tissues are attached inside the feather socket. When plucking, sometimes the feather slides off the connective tissue and leaves these kinda slimy looking worm analogues. They can be pulled out to provide a cleaner carcass, but are harmless if left as they are. They will vanish without a trace when cooking the chicken.
9 Comments
They are follicles.
If you do discover a worm problem, red pepper flakes in their feed are a good start towards remedying the issue. Birds can’t taste the spice. Also deters rats from the food. Happy homesteading.
ETA: I have 18 years of experience processing homegrown poultry. Your bird looks totally normal and healthy.
Those look like maggots.
There are maggots on your chickens. How long has this been dead for?
How long has the bird been dead?
Are they moving?
Edit: you have to zoom quite a bit to see them.
Undeveloped feathers and the follicles that grow them. They slide out of the skin when the birds get plucked.
Feathers. If you do see worms, just make sure the chicken is fully cooked and it’s safe to eat.
I just see insides of bloodfeathers/pinfeathers/developing feathers growing in. Normal. FYI there is a helpful scraping tool you can buy with bird butchering tools that helps scrape those developing pinfeathers off when butchering. It’s kind of a blunt butter knife looking thing.
Also if those things were wiggling then you’ve got something else on your hands lol
When plucking the incompletely-grown-out long feathers, particularly on the wings, you will get these long strands of nerve tissue that provides the nutrients and circulation to the growing feathers. These tissues are attached inside the feather socket. When plucking, sometimes the feather slides off the connective tissue and leaves these kinda slimy looking worm analogues. They can be pulled out to provide a cleaner carcass, but are harmless if left as they are. They will vanish without a trace when cooking the chicken.