Cheapest way to cull a laying flock for dog food

[NTBugtraq]

Can we stay on topic please?

 

[WalnutHill]

Why not do it yourself on demand? That way no freezer space is required and you don't have to thaw for dog food.

Kill, eviscerate, skin and feed. Toss the heart and liver to the dogs as well. Discard the gizzard unless you want to cut it open and clean it as it's full of gravel. Discard the intestines, lungs, trachea. Everything else is up to your dogs' dietary tolerances.

If your dogs don't eat raw bones now, you may want to start them with rib bones and work your way up over a couple of days until they learn to crush the bones, rather than just cracking and gulping them.

 

[JanetMarie]

@JanetMarie , why are you killing them and bleeding them out? What does that achieve that's needed?

Less messy when eviscerating, meat lasts longer in freezer, and tastes better. However, for dog meat the taste may not matter.

 

[NTBugtraq]

Why not do it yourself on demand? That way no freezer space is required and you don't have to thaw for dog food.

Kill, eviscerate, skin and feed. Toss the heart and liver to the dogs as well. Discard the gizzard unless you want to cut it open and clean it as it's full of gravel. Discard the intestines, lungs, trachea. Everything else is up to your dogs' dietary tolerances.

If your dogs don't eat raw bones now, you may want to start them with rib bones and work your way up over a couple of days until they learn to crush the bones, rather than just cracking and gulping them.

Well, that was my first thought. However, I was planning on giving the dogs a chicken once a week as a treat rather than switching entirely over to a full raw diet...so I'd still have these layers 22 weeks from now. So, I guess I can just give them it more often and achieve my purpose.

Thanks.

Quote:

Less messy when eviscerating, meat lasts longer in freezer, and tastes better. However, for dog meat the taste may not matter.

Thanks, makes sense.

 

[Jackschicks]

NTBugTraq, Having fed my dogs a raw diet in the past and being a believer of trying to make my life as simple as possible - I would kill them, skin them, gut them and freeze them in meal size portions. If you are just supplementing their kibble, then adjust your portions accordingly. I would rather do all the work of preparation in one afternoon rather than deal with the mess of butchering more frequently.

WalnutHill does make a good point about the bones - I always start mine out out with necks, breasts & wings and work them up to the larger thigh & leg bones.

Whatever you decide to do, your dogs will definately be looking forward to dinner time!!!

 

[NTBugtraq]

NTBugTraq, Having fed my dogs a raw diet in the past and being a believer of trying to make my life as simple as possible - I would kill them, skin them, gut them and freeze them in meal size portions. If you are just supplementing their kibble, then adjust your portions accordingly. I would rather do all the work of preparation in one afternoon rather than deal with the mess of butchering more frequently.

WalnutHill does make a good point about the bones - I always start mine out out with necks, breasts & wings and work them up to the larger thigh & leg bones.

Whatever you decide to do, your dogs will definately be looking forward to dinner time!!!

@Jackschicks , I have to agree with you. Having never processed chickens from raw into quarters (I've only skinned one , eviscerated, and then "tore it into pieces"), trying to do all that in the snow one at a time really seems like a lot of work. I know I have to get to be able to do that, but like everything I try, I feel I am rushing myself...

Spending the $100 or so will save me layer feed and the hassle, at the expense of freezer space, a couple of drives and some gas. Well, I already have the freezer space.

It is a shame that youtubes showing how to process chickens the way I want them would be considered unsafe (if not inhumane). I like that my dogs have the instinct to ground a bird (they did it once already with my Rooster, in my ridiculous attempt to try and get them to make friends with each other), so I am tempted to simply release a hen outside of the pens and let the dogs do what they do. Another alternative is to simply cut the head off and then releasing it to the dogs...but that would then lead the dogs to fighting between each other over the carcass.

So I think I will just process them.

I had a couple at the farm today who said they were wanting to start raising chickens, so I offered them my 1.25 year olds...unfortunately, they don't think they are ready to take them...and no place up here to advertise them (Kijiji won't allow me to advertise birds other than day-olds). Shame, because they are laying well.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[BBQJOE]

I don't know. It just kinda goes against the grain of my brain to teach a dog to eat chickens.

For many people that is a problem, and once they start, dogs get put down.

 

[NTBugtraq]

I don't know. It just kinda goes against the grain of my brain to teach a dog to eat chickens.

For many people that is a problem, and once they start, dogs get put down.

FWIW, I used my dogs as the test as to whether I had created secure pens for my chickens. My farm is surrounded by 70' forest, red hawks, owls, wolf and coyote. If the dogs could get to them, so could predators...at the time the dogs only wanted to get to them to ground them. Anyway, no way I could free range, my dogs would be the least of the problems.

So, if you live somewhere that hasn't such natural predators, I totally understand not wanting to make dogs like chicken meat.

 

[cottontail farm]

I have nothing to add to this discussion but I literally laughed out loud when I saw the picture of the woodchipper. Thanks everyone.

 

[Ladybird CA]

I live in Ontario and see older birds posted on Kijiji all the time.