# Bloody chicken joints and bones



## frogholler99

I cooked 6 chicken drumsticks last night for supper but we wern't able to eat them as they were so bloody inside. Even the meat had turned red from the blood. I posted a picture of them if you care to have a look.  This seems to be the norm now with chicken. Even in the resturants, we are coming across the dark red bloody bones. This seems to be happening more and more over the past year or two. What the heck are they doing to the poor chickens at the processing plants? Apparently, they arn't being bled out anymore. Are any of you coming across this a lot like me?


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## mudbug

sorry, frogholler99 (cool name, btw).  I don't seem to have this problem.  Are you quite sure you are cooking them long enough?  

I did look at your photo, which appears to demonstrate that you are--given the look of the meat left on the bones.  Wish I had better advice to give you.


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## frogholler99

Hi Mudbug,  Thanks for replying. And yes, they were cooked hours in the slow cooker and the meat was falling off the bloody bones. lol  As I said in my post, I have purchased quite a lot of chicken over the past couple years  that have the same bloody bones and 'm getting to the point where I dread buying anymore chicken with the bone in.


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## amber

Drumsticks always look like that, it's the dark meat of the chicken. I have never cooked them in a slow cooker. I cook them in the oven at 350 degrees for about half an hour and the meat is always very tender.

You sound alot like someone that was on here recently regarding KFC.


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## Claire

The joints of a chicken will always be red and bloody looking if the chicken has been frozen, and more so if you try to speed up the thawing process.  My mom was a real pioneer in the home freezer department, and we learned this.  It doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the bird.  The joints are a little red, maybe not at all, if you thaw it slowly in the fridge.  The quicker you try to thaw it, the more "bloody" it will look, no matter how much you cook it.  I'm sure there's a scientific reason for this, but darned if I know it.  I'd be dead if it was unhealthy!


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## frogholler99

Hi members,  Did you all look at the pictures in the photo gallery? I'm not talking about a little bloody joint. The complete bone is stained with blood and the meat was also red. It was thawed in the fridge before cooking. As_  I said in my first post, this isn't something that has always been around with chicken. I don't think it is unhealthy but the blood isn't very appetizing. If I want red, I'll have my rare beef  lol.Thanks for your input. _


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## GB

frogholler, I just took a look at your photos and this is something I have seen a million times. I always remember our chicken looking like that when I was a kid. I remember giving my mom a hard time about it because it looked gross, but she made me eat it anyway saying there was nothing wrong with it.

I hardly ever cook anything, but boneless skinless breasts now so I haven't seen the bloody bones in quite a while. My wife can't stand eating chicken on the bone which is why we use the boneless breasts.


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## Andy M.

You're assuming that purple coloration on the bones is blood.  It's not.  Blood is drained from the birds during processing.  It doesn't just hang around the bird's leg bones.

As others have said, this is a fairly common occurrence and not a cause for worry.  While it may be visually unappealing, it's not harmful in any way.


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## Constance

I see that all the time...it's nothing to worry about.


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## rickell

frogholler99 said:
			
		

> I cooked 6 chicken drumsticks last night for supper but we wern't able to eat them as they were so bloody inside. Even the meat had turned red from the blood. I posted a picture of them if you care to have a look. This seems to be the norm now with chicken. Even in the resturants, we are coming across the dark red bloody bones. This seems to be happening more and more over the past year or two. What the heck are they doing to the poor chickens at the processing plants? Apparently, they arn't being bled out anymore. Are any of you coming across this a lot like me?


 

Soak your chicken in cold salt water in the fridge overnight. The cold
water draws out the blood, works real well. Soaking also makes your
chicken real moist.


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## jminion

Chicken is slaughtered at a very young age now days, because of this the bone is not fully matured. When cooking the marrow is leached through the bone and causes what some believe to be bloody chicken. Once the meat reaches 180º internal or in this case falling off the bone there is no problem with the chicken being under cooked. We see this with smoked chicken all the time. 

I don't see practices used raising chicken changing any time soon.
Jim


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## jennyema

rickell said:
			
		

> Soak your chicken in cold salt water in the fridge overnight. The cold
> water draws out the blood, works real well. Soaking also makes your
> chicken real moist.


 

Brining like that doesn't draw blood out.  You'd see it in the brine water afterwards if that were true.  Brining draws the brine into the cells of the meat.

I saw the pics and that looks pretty normal to me too.  Its some kind of reaction with heat and hemoglobin in the bones, I think.


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## jpmcgrew

Where are the pics frog? I cant find them they are not in your photo gallery


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## In the Kitchen

*Same experience*

I have asked on this site, wrote the producer of t he chickens an still I have the blood to contend with. I understand how upset you are.  Being relat ed to farmers they often ttell me there is such mass production that the whole production line doesn't take the time to allow the blood to drain properly.  If my relatives chop the heads off they don't clean them right away they let the chicken 'rest'. I also know that they electrocute the birds.  I can honestly say that when I go to the farm  and have to see the dead chicken there isn't any blood like in my store.  I do get chance to go to Farmer's Market here and buy the chickens he has cleaned and have not really seen the blood.  If anything really bothers me about chickens is not cooking them long enough.  Only way to get around this is to raise your own and see what happens.  

My relatives all have such different life than we do.  Eat the fresh bacon and eggs almost everyday.  I truly enjoy visiting them and seeing how things should be.  Don't have everything but what they have is priceless!  I think I saw that slogan on tv about something.


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## Constance

My dad grew up on a farm, and had to help clean the chickens. For years, he talked about how he hated "grasshopper chickens". 
I've had my share of home-farm raised chickens, and I have to tell you, I really like the modern "factory chickens" better. The free range chickens taste a little rank to me...kinda like grashoppers. 

As far as the way the factories dispense the birds...I have never heard the electrocution thing, but maybe some places do that. I guess it would be more cost-effective than taking time to wring their necks or chop their heads off individually. Really, what's the difference?


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## rickell

jennyema said:
			
		

> Brining like that doesn't draw blood out. You'd see it in the brine water afterwards if that were true. Brining draws the brine into the cells of the meat.
> 
> I saw the pics and that looks pretty normal to me too. Its some kind of reaction with heat and hemoglobin in the bones, I think.


 
I do see the blood in the water after I let it soak and do not have bloody chicken, I have even soaked in butter milk and it works too.  
I believe it is the cold liquid just like when you have blood on clothing you soak it is cold water and it will take out the blood.  I don't think the salt in the water has anything to do with drawing the blood out, I only add it for flavor.   Really works you should try it.


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## Lizannd

*It is just the age of the chicken.  Frying chickens are young*

and the bones are softer so the marrow will come through.  If you cooked a stewing chicken this would not happen.


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## cookinalongtime

Chicken bones are filled with blood because they are not bleeding out the chickens after slaughtering.  We used to raise broilers and we always bled them out and there was no unappealing blood left in the bones to drain out into the meat.  I don't know why more consumers don't complain about this problem.


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## CarolPa

I have seen this sometimes on chicken that I order in a restaurant, and it usually doesn't seem to be cooked well enough for my liking.  I cook my chicken really long, until it's falling off the bone, and I don't see this at all.  If I did, I wouldn't be eating as much chicken.  I eat mostly thighs and drumsticks.  The butcher at my grocery store said that people are all complaining about the bloody chicken.


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