Innards...what to do with them?

[lilcritters]

Quote:
I wouldn't eat the intestines (containing food on its way to becoming poop) but nor would I eat the poop after it has been discarded by the chicken. The dogs DO eat the chicken poop if given the chance, so they also quite happily eat it in this form.

YOUR dog may eat chicken poop, but mine won't touch the stuff! Horse poop on the other hand....now there's a delicious delicacy....

Now my dog eats the Chix poo and leaves the Horse poo alone!!! Silly dogs..


April

 

[Renee']

I think I'd like to save the heart, liver, gizzards, and make doggie treats out of them from a recipe someone here on BYC posted a while back.[/quote]

Put the heart, liver, necks and cleaned gizzards in a deep sauce pan, add enough water to cover them, bring to a boil, then simmer for 3 hours. I pick the little bits of meat off of the necks and throw the bones in the trash. You can save or discard the water. I discard the water and put the meat in the food processor. I then pack it in canning jars or plastic containers and freeze it. I think it may be a bit rich for my dogs so I make a weekly batch of plain brown rice, and mix it 50/50 with the organ meat.

Another BYC'er uses the meat water to make the rice.

I freeze the feet in ziplocks and give them as a treat, raw/frozen.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Everything organic (plant/animal) here that doesn't go in the fridge goes in the compost pile.
Rare heart and liver are breakfast the day of the butcher.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
You guys aren't saving the usable innards to use for yourself? You can eat the livers....and the rest of the usable stuff makes for great chicken stock with your backs, etc. This graphic post from the stickies here shows a dude processing his chickens and then using everything usable. And then here's hislink for how to make a fantastic chicken stock from those parts. I've copied his method and it came out AMAZING.

For the rest of the guts that you aren't going to eat - I'd burn them. I don't like giving my dog intestines or the odd innard that I wouldn't eat....nor do I feel comfortable feeding them back to the chickens. We don't put any meat products in our compost, (or human poo like suggested above for that matter.) The only poo going in there is chicken, rabbit, quail or horse.

we save the necks, livers, gizzards and heart.. all of those go into soup stock (except for the livers) then i feed the heart and gizzard to the dogs when the stockpot is done with them.. I get dibs on the livers!

love them for liver sandwiches

 

[HHandbasket]

pips&peeps :

If you process in small numbers, you can freeze the unused parts and put them in the garbage on the day of collection. This is what I do with my little birds that I cull.

Oh that's a great idea ! That's what I do when I have something that goes bad in the fridge before we eat it. I put it in a ziplock bag in the fridge, mark it with a black X, and when it's time to go to the dumps, I put it out there.

Duh, why didn't I think of that? I think you just solved this for us.

As far as eating the liver, heart, gizzards, etc., it's just not something I am gonna eat OR cook. Maybe someday. Not yet. I've never liked livers. I've tried it a million different ways.​

 

[BlazeJester]

Quote:
x2 - feed them to the dogs or cats. It's not recognizable as chicken so doesn't tempt them to kill, but it's also not going to waste at all nor attracting predators. Except if the dog rolls in it instead of eating it, so on that thought give it to the cat.

 

[CRYSTALCREEK]

There is a huge movement in the showdog scene toward feeding raw. The acronym RMB is used for the raw meaty bone component of the diet, which makes up about 50% of what the dog eats. The other 40% is raw muscle, which includes heart, and no more than 10% is organ. What you are trying to mimic is what a cannid would naturally consume in the wild if he were to take down a rabbit, bird, or other small prey in the wild; he doesn't cook it, does he?

I got a new puppy 4 months ago and the breeder I obtained her from has been feeding raw for 20 years. I thought I would give it a whirl. I have found it to be an awesome compliment to my lavender ameraucana project which seems to produce as many culls as keepers.

My dogs get the trachea, unopened whole gizzard and whatever it contains, lungs, liver, kidneys, heart, back, tail, neck, feet, and basically the whole bird if it is an older rooster. When fed raw and uncooked, unprocessed, the bones are SOFT, they contain excellent enzymes that are destroyed in the cooking process of all commercially prepared kibble. Once cooked, you cannot feed bones. UNCOOKED, you can feed any and ALL bones without worry of choke, splinter, or digestive upset. REALLY.

If I don't want the bird for myself, I slit the neck and let it bleed out and remove the head and pluck just like I would if I were going to process it. Then I open the back end , remove the intestine from the gizzard to the vent, and the dogs get the rest. You can leave it whole if you have large dogs. Feathers, a head and a piece of intestine is not a lot to worry about and could probably be burned or buried easily in your circumstance.

I know it goes against everything we are all taught by vets and TV when it comes to feeding our dogs. I was the biggest skeptic you could imagine. My dogs are happier and much healthier because I was willing to give it a try. Now extra roosters are no big deal.

I bought some Cornish X 6 week old birds off Craigslist a while back because I wanted to try the meat before I buy, raise, and process 20 birds. You can bet the dogs had a great dinner the day I processed those two birds. They LOVE LOVE LOVE fresh chicken!!!!

There are books written on the topic; I promise I'm not a cuckoo. Try it!

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Oh, save those for ME!! I love fried chicken liver, and I love chicken hearts - I've actually purchased containers of chicken hearts and liver and cooked them for myself. Yes, cooked, me.

Cooked gizzards, well, Smudge loves those.

 

[galanie]

I don't like the gizzards so I cut them up in small pieces for the flock. My chickens love it when they see the kill cone go up. They're like "OH BOY YOU'RE KILLING SOMEONE DIBS ON THE GUTS!" The intestines either get buried or thrown in the trash, depending on how far from trash day it is. So long as you bury them deep enough nothing here digs it up. Sometimes though I still cover the spot with a piece of log or something if it's around just to be sure for a while.

 

[shadowpaints]