Raw meat

[AJPeter]

Can IRN have raw meat/chicken?
AJPeter

[sanjays mummi]

I would not advise it, for one thing, it may cause worms

[zentoucan]

would you eat raw meat/chicken?

[Donovan]

just as a guess I would say no because it's the same thing as outdoor conditions...

whereas wild birds can handle it.. domesticated birds cannot

it's likely the immune system of the domesticated irn is not suited for raw meat.. Not to mention the wild irns probably don't scavenge dead chickens or cows anyway.

The nearest thing to raw meat i would suggest would be grasshoppers and other insects. My bird has a large outdoor cage and before the weather got cold (i don't really take him outside anymore) I went out to check on him and he was holding a grasshopper with his foot and eating it.

[AJPeter]

Thanks guys,
Most useful info, so l presume that chicken has to be cookled right through?
AJPeter

[ellieelectrons]

I give my birds the occasional bit of cooked chicken. Our vet said it was good for protein. I don't give it very often though.

Ellie.

[Donovan]

chicken, if baked or boiled should be very good for your bird..

i mean they don't need to live on it... but unless it's highly salted or really greasy i would recommend cooked chicken for sure..

raw chicken.. no way

[MissK]

Understanding that things may be quite different where you are, I would say take note of the label on the chicken. Ours is usually injected with some mystery solution. I would be getting organic for this reason.

[AJPeter]

The label says cook on the middle shelf at 200 or fan 180 for 30 -35 minutes.
AJPeter

[MissK]

Look to see if anywhere it says "solution added". That would be the giveaway. They usually print it quite small, the big jerks.

[AJPeter]

Most take aways print large
AJPeter

[Melika]

For the most part, our meat here isn't safe enough to be eaten raw even by people. Hard to know how fresh it is and the source... but poultry and pork should never be eaten raw anyway. Beef is another matter. Fish too, if you want to call it meat. And even still it carries risk for humans. But parrots aren't typically carrion eaters and wouldn't eat raw meat (I say typically because there are a few species that have been known to do so). It's just not in their system to digest it properly- and safely.

Understanding that things may be quite different where you are, I would say take note of the label on the chicken. Ours is usually injected with some mystery solution. I would be getting organic for this reason.

It's usually a saline solution to make the raw chicken appear more 'plump'. Here's an excerpt further detailing what can be in it: "According to Kenneth McMillin, a professor of meat science at Louisiana State University, plumping of some kind or another has been around a long time, but has gained popularity in the last three or four years. When growers bred chickens for higher meat production -- more muscle, less fat -- they also brought a dry, less tasty bird into the market. Overcooked, it could be nearly inedible. Besides, chicken that's nearly a fifth water is much cheaper to produce. That's how we've ended up buying chicken with enhanced breasts (and everything else).

The tinkering didn't end there. McMillin reports that the saline injections reached such high percentages that much of the chicken flavor was lost, so "natural flavor" was added, usually in the form of a concentrated broth, along with corn syrup or other forms of sugar and lemon concentrates. Phosphates are commonly added as a binder, to help the meat retain the water and salt during shipping and cooking. Usually this is sodium phosphate. But then dietitians complained that the plumping of chicken was also pumping up the sodium levels of a naturally low-sodium food. In response, a few producers switched to potassium phosphate. That gives the meat a bitter taste, thus encouraging the addition of more flavorings to mask it. All these additives can overwhelm any herbs and spices a cook might use.

As long as the ingredients in the injected solution can legally be labeled natural, so can the chicken. The only tipoff is in the small print informing consumers about the ingredients of the plumping potion and how much of it is in the chicken. A package of chicken thighs sold in local markets announces, in almost unnoticeable lettering, that the meat has been enhanced "up to 18%" with water, salt, lemon juice solids, natural lemon flavor, cane juice, corn syrup and other natural flavorings. A shopper who buys this $6 package of chicken is thus paying more than a dollar of that for a complicated salt-and-sugar-water solution.

It's not entirely fair to single out chicken. According to McMillin, most pork sold in this country is plumped, and about a third of the beef. But the producers of these meats have brought a level of finesse to the process, tailoring the type and amount of added liquid to the specific cut of meat so that the results are more, well, meaty." http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/04 ... -2010jan04

[sanjays mummi]

I buy Halal chicken, and it has a better flavour too (not muslim btw)

[AJPeter]

I could not buy halal, l do not agree with the way they are killed, l gave Billie some cooked chicken today and she went barmy bit me on my lip, she won't get chicken again for some time. So it no chicken tonight for her!
AJPeter

[MissK]

Melika,

I rather wish it was still a mystery, because I do *sometimes* buy some chicken..... I can't eat beef, but I'm very upset to hear it's in my pork. That's why it's so darn salty!!

Thank you for making that informative post!

Also, "meat science"....... - I had no idea.

[sanjays mummi]

What is this to do with?

[Little Buttercup]

I could not buy halal, l do not agree with the way they are killed, l gave Billie some cooked chicken today and she went barmy bit me on my lip, she won't get chicken again for some time. So it no chicken tonight for her!
AJPeter

AJ, I made in-depth research in the commercial chicken killing industry. I have no words for it, all I can say its terrible. How those poor chickens are handled from the time they hatch to the day they are sentenced to the gallows. It makes me sick in the stomach and no ways will I bring such meat near my mouth. Do your research and see if you agree with that horrific way of killing. No true animal lover would. You will find videos if you want to watch, but its too sickening for me to watch. I've seen pictures and its disgusting enough for me. And its much the same with beef and lamb here as well.

Missk, you say you can't eat beef, so what will you eat now that your pork is the same as your chicken?
I find it best for me to get my meat from those doing halal on a small scale at their own farms. Where I can see how the animals are handled and how they live. Commercial halal is a definite no-no for me.

Ash

[MissK]

Ash, I continue to eat pork, though with a bad attitude. Over the Holidays I ate some turkey and some lovely ham. I did buy some chickens for January, again, with the bad attitude.

[AJPeter]

When you see meat on the supermarket shelf or at the butcher it does not look like an animal and here in this country we see animals kiiled in a humane way but it is true that suffering takes place in order that we should eat but l draw the line at halal.

Sorry about the delay in posting my response

[Afraz]

I wouldn't be comfortable giving meat to my birds. They don't eat any in the wild (except maybe insects), so I highly doubt that they'd be able to properly digest all of it.
They might also get worms.

[AJPeter]

Well cooked meat especially chcken is good in small quantities provides protein. You cannot compare the diet of wild birds to that of captive birds.

[sanjays mummi]

My Irish grandfather had a smallholding, and slaughtered his chickens in exactly the same way as Halal butchers. His birds were free range. Anyway, on our market I found a stall selling goose eggs, I hard boiled one for Sanjay, and he thoroughly enjoyed demolishing it! Even though it was almost as big as him.

[AJPeter]

During WW2 l was evacuated to a farm in Buckleberry Berks and it was my job to feed the chickens until one day the farmer's wife grabbed a chicken and chopped its head off. Its body was running around the kitchen spurting blood. It put me off eating chicken for 40 years until l saw a progem on TV about battery hens being slaughtered and that put me off chicken for the rest of my life. But it is hard to visualize a chicken when you buy nuggets. Billie and l enjoy nuggets.

[sanjays mummi]

So does my grandson Jack!. I always buy free range eggs, Sanjay has not tasted nuggets though, erm, I am not sure what goes into them.

[AJPeter]

Cooked chicken l hope.