Chicken feet - can I “salvage” them?

[ladybrasa]

So, I saved my chicken feet in the freezer from last year. I haven’t mentally gotten to the point of using them as people food yet, but it seems such a waste to chuck them in the woods. My idea was to dehydrate and give out as fancy dog treats, as I had seen this online. I had clipped the nails but did not skin them. I just dehydrated a batch for 4 days. Afterwards I still had some slight skepticism about the safety despite many non-vet articles saying they were (I don’t have a dog currently), so I whacked one with a hammer. It Definitely splintered - and crumbled - so no go for dog treats. Don’t want any internal perforations!!

So basically I have a baggie of dehydrated raw chicken legs with the skin/scales. What can I do with them? Someone suggested pulverizing in a meat grinder, but apparently that can mess up the grinder. I saw some people make bone meal by boiling then baking/dehydrating then various things to break them down. Since they are already dehydrated, I guess I could still boil then dry again? What about the scales? If I boil dehydrated and scale-on feet, would that still make a people edible bone broth? I feel I’ve handled the legs well thus far to not be concerned about the germ aspect. But I think technically you are supposed to remove the skin before making broth? I do have more legs in the freezer as well as some raw thigh and drumstick bones …

Any ideas if I can salvage these dehydrated feet for something, and how? Will boiling scales mess up a human-grade broth?

 

[3KillerBs]

Yes, you are supposed to remove the outer cuticle before cooking for broth because, no matter how well you scrub them, you probably can't get all the poop off.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-knock-a-chickens-socks-off.77405/

After a year in the freezer they probably have a seriously freezerish taste anyway.

I personally would bury them in my garden and try again.

 

[ladybrasa]

*bookmarks link*

Well, they were butchered in the fall so not quite a year yet …
If it matters, I’ve kept carcasses in the freezer maybe up to nine-ish months before cooking and the broth tasted fine? Well, not freezer-y anyway to my palate. So far the biggest thing (and probably most duh) affecting flavor of finished broth is how I season it and what veggies I throw in. i.e. highly variable every time - all at least decent and some really tasty!