What to do with chicken entrails

[gettinaclue]

DH and I have been looking over how to build a chicken plucker (this will probably happen next year or so) and I am trying to figure out what to do with the insides of the chicken.

I plan on eating the livers. I just loved them breaded and fried....but what about the rest?

My dog isn't on a raw diet but I hate to just waste everything. Should I bury them? Can I make a stock with them...without the bones?

What do you do with your feathers? As far as I know, there is nothing to do with them but chuck them in the trash.

Your thoughts please?

(Moderator - I wasn't quite sure where to post this - please move it if it is required)

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Probably not very "safe" but we only butcher a few chickens at a time, so we just throw the innards in the yard for the lucky chickens to fight over. Like I said, probably frowned upon but it's what I do. If I had pigs, which I plan on having one day, I would throw the innards to them. If I raise the chickens and I raise the pigs under the same conditions, I don't see why they couldn't eat them, but that's just me.

I think some people compost them. I think I read that in one of Joel Stalatin's books.

Some people freeze them and save them for trap bait. That way they have something to bait their livetraps with.

 

[buckeye lady]

Chicken plucker-

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=130787

I'm not sure what to do with the entrails. We sometimes toss ours back in the field and the night critters eat them. We have also wrapped them in newspaper and put them on the pile on burn day. I've read about people composting them.

Feathers can be composted.

Livers heart and kidneys as well as neck can be used to make stock. No good use for intestines.

Most books say bury the entrails.

 

[gettinaclue]

Wolf-Kim - thanks for the heads up on composting them. I didn't think meat was supposed to go into the compost pile. I need to read more about this. Thanks again for info.

Buckeye Lady - DH and I actually saw that post. I'm a member there as well. I really want one that is a tub so I can just throw them in there, spray a little water and wait a few seconds LOL.

Thank you for letting me know about the feathers being compostable...I didn't think they were...or they took forever and ever or something along those lines... I will definately read up on it more. Thanks!

I don't want to feed the wildlife with the entrails. I'm afraid if I do that, they will want the rest of the chicken to go along with it LOL.

 

[buckeye lady]

"I don't want to feed the wildlife with the entrails. I'm afraid if I do that, they will want the rest of the chicken to go along with it LOL"


You're right about this. Our chickens are very secure and we have 4 dogs that patrol the perimeter regularly. I also have electrified netting around the chicken run.
The entrails are placed in the back of the field far away from the homestead.

 

[freemotion]

Yeah, when I toss a dead chicken (mystery death, not slaughtered) I walk about a half mile into the woods, far from our live chickens.

You could also bury the entrails. I would also give everything but the intestines to the dogs (hey, they sleep in my bed, I don't want chicken poop breath on my pillow!)

My dad has an awesome chicken feather pillow that his mother made for him over fifty years ago from feathers from her flock. Mostly butt and breast feathers, I think....the softer ones. I plan on making one myself when we start killing birds this summer. You need real pillow ticking, though, to contain those feathers. I hope it can still be found.

Your chickens will also eat a lot of the feathers.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

we have a big ol burn pile.... but it has to be pretty darn hot. the feathers can go in the compost (for us) and we use the livers, hearts etc -- cooked -- for the dogs.

the rest of the guts get burned.

we totally agree that you dont want to let all the neighborhood critters know where the chicken buffet is....

 

[xpc]

I am trying to figure out what to do with the insides of the chicken.

I wont eat them and the pitbulls wont eat them so we throw them in the road and watch the soccer moms wash their windshields when they squish a juicy blood filtering liver - just kidding the chickens eat all the offal, though I cook them first. Do people really eat liver when tacobell is nearby?

 

[gettinaclue]

we throw them in the road and watch the soccer moms wash their windshields when they squish a juicy blood filtering liver

Yes, I eat chicken liver. I even will eat a calf liver if it's breaded and fried with onions. I can only eat liver once a year at home though - DH can't stand the sight or smell of it...but he humors me while I gorge myself..he even bought me some once. The shock of that almost killed me. LOL

I no longer eat Taco Bell...I call it taco he**. I just can't stomach the stuff.

 

[lupinfarm]

I throw them into a dish and leave then out for the barn cats. Spots and Smokey ate their fair share of chicken innards this year.

blech! Chicken livers... my dad is welsh and he loves them with his scrambled egg lol. Mum made them one morning and they got mixed with MY scrambled egg, ohhh I was horrified. I was made to eat it anyway, but it was not my cuppa.