Inedible

[TonysChickens]

Do you rinse out the contents and refill? Because I guess the off-putting part for me about the intestines is that at least at one end, they are only seconds from being flushed out of the bird as poop so that's really not something I'm interested in eating. Even my dogs didn't seem interested and they love to go around and snack on chicken "nuggets".

Cut the intestine length wise so you get one long ribbon basically. Then rinse out the insides real good. Cut it into 2 inch strips and stir fry with some vegetables.

 

[chickmashnoon]

ooh! I had been wondering about this! what an awesome thread! tho my husband thinks I'm crazy to keep the feet . . .

 

[Appylover]

I keep the "giblets" heart, gizard and liver and toss the rest of the unuseable parts. Feathers I pluck any I want to keep dry. I like to make jewlery out of them. I keep them in a box for later use. I had about a pound of feathers until the kids left the box outside the other day and the wind blew them all over. I also make cat toys out of them.

 

[RiddleMe]

I want to know what people do with the inedible parts of the chicken after they process a bird. Has anyone found some good uses for the byproducts? I figure if I can collect and dry the blood it would make good fertilizer. What can you do with the feathers or initials? Dog food? Anyway let me know if you have any clever uses for your leftovers.
Brad

Makes great fertilizer and it will drive away/keep out things like gophers, as it soaks down into the ground and they don't like the smell (same concept as the store bought blood meal). If you put pelleted (or regular) shavings in your collection bucket, they absorb the blood and make cleanup oh so easy. And if you're just tossing on a compost heap, they break down well.

 

[RiddleMe]

ooh! I had been wondering about this! what an awesome thread! tho my husband thinks I'm crazy to keep the feet . . .

The feet are great, they have a ton of the collagen and can thicken your stock enough it can actually be cut when it's cooled.

 

[CowgirlJules]

I save the feet for stock unless they have bumblefoot.

Feathers compost nicely but it's much easier to pluck straight into the bag I'm putting the offal into, so that's where most of them go.

I do my killing right by my compost pile, so the blood goes there.

I clean the gizzards as mentioned above, and freeze them to either go into a batch of stock or to give to my father-in-law, as with the hearts.

Livers go to the dogs, except the duck livers; those I keep because surely someone likes those.

Intestines go in the trash.

Heads go in the trash too, unless one of my friends wants them. I have several that like to clean skulls for taxidermy projects or decoration, and I'll save them if they ask.