Is there a way to keep a chicken foot?

[Jeffross1968]

So, we just culled our first bird for food. It's all clean and in the freezer, but I was wondering if there was anything we can do to keep a chicken foot. Not for food, but, I don't know, as a memento?

 

[Anish]

Uh-oh!! Now you want to take a trophy!

If you take a small rubbermaid tub, fill it half way with rock salt, then fill the rest of the container with more rock salt, that should do the trick. I'm not sure how long it will take to dry since I have never done this with a chicken foot before. I would let it sit for two weeks and then check it.
You can also just hang it to dry, but with the salt it goes quite a bit quicker.

 

[ChicKat]

Or, maybe a jar with formaldyhide (spelling/) or alcohol like preserved specimins in old natural history museums.

We used to see really gruesome things in big jars in the natural history museum when I was a kid. (I think any liquid would enlarge it after time.... )

gruesome...LOL.

 

[Anish]

True, good ole' over the counter 90% alcohol would work. Formaldehyde is awful stuff. Carcinogenic and expensive. Alcohol works just as well for something like a chicken foot. I guess I would opt for the drying though. Just because of the enlarging thing that you mentioned and that eventually the skin would begin to slough if it's kept in a liquid.
Ick!!

 

[madamwlf]

I have a chicken foot sitting on my kitchen window sill. No alcohol or anything else. It has dried out. And there was no nasty smell either since chicken feet don't have much meat on them.

 

[Jeffross1968]

I have a chicken foot sitting on my kitchen window sill. No alcohol or anything else. It has dried out. And there was no nasty smell either since chicken feet don't have much meat on them.

That's where mine are now. Probably the route I'm going to go...

 

[edie keepsfire]

Thank you so much for all these responses. The absolute most help the internet has been, in terms of my query, as well. <3