Is this bad to feed my hens??

[davedavey]

feeding this to my hens!! Is it bad?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Animals in general, including people, should really not eat hotdogs.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

SALT. Chickens need a little. Salt content in the typical feed is around 0.5%-1% See for example. Target fat levels for most chickens is around 3.5% +/- (same example)

My favorite two brands of hotdogs? Sabrett's All Natural Skinless - 15% sodium (30x the widely used Purina feed above), 17% fat (approx 5x recommends)

Hebrew National All Beef - 20% sodium, 17% fat.

There's reason I only eat two or three of those every other month ('cause I love chili cheese dogs, and don't make my own chicken sausage frequently enough)

/edit to add. Homemade chicken franks with meat from your flock, covered in homemade goat chili (meat and veg from your property) on homemade sourdough buns. Its a good start toward living the homesteader high life. When I can make my own cheese, and produce (reliably) my own grains and veg, I'll have reached the gold standard. A LONG WAYS OFF.

 

[Isadora]

Will it kill them? Of course not. Is it the best treat? No. But I see no problem in throwing them something little like this every once in a while.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Will it kill them? Of course not. Is it the best treat? No. But I see no problem in throwing them something little like this every once in a while.

I'm an "all things in moderation" type, but on this, I'm going to recommend you eat the hotdog yourself, and throw something else to the birds.

I will readily acknowledge that it won't kill them, of course, in limited quantities over lengthy timescales.

 

[3KillerBs]

The other day the cat managed to get into a package of hotdogs I was thawing in the sink.

I tossed the two partially-chewed hot dogs to my flock of ~25(ish?) chickens without worrying about them. I would not have given them to a very small flock and I would not feed them routinely because of the salt content.

But a random hot dog or two once in a while for my large flock -- where a rousing game of chicken football will ensure that no one bird eats more than a few bites -- shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Sally PB]

Homemade chicken franks

Recipe???

 

[Ridgeback825]

SALT. Chickens need a little. Salt content in the typical feed is around 0.5%-1% See for example. Target fat levels for most chickens is around 3.5% +/- (same example)

My favorite two brands of hotdogs? Sabrett's All Natural Skinless - 15% sodium (30x the widely used Purina feed above), 17% fat (approx 5x recommends)

Hebrew National All Beef - 20% sodium, 17% fat.

There's reason I only eat two or three of those every other month ('cause I love chili cheese dogs, and don't make my own chicken sausage frequently enough)

/edit to add. Homemade chicken franks with meat from your flock, covered in homemade goat chili (meat and veg from your property) on homemade sourdough buns. Its a good start toward living the homesteader high life. When I can make my own cheese, and produce (reliably) my own grains and veg, I'll have reached the gold standard. A LONG WAYS OFF.

Great advice!
What time is dinner?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Recipe???

Oh yeah, I owed you a recipe.

Essentially ANY recipe that works for Pork can use chicken as a substitute for the meat. HOWEVER - don't use chicken fat, use beef fat or pork fat. Chicken fat doesn't get as hard at room temp, which results in an odd texture.
I use Legg's "Snack Stik" seasoning when I'm feeling lazy (all last year). Its got a mustard background, with garlic and onion, like any good dog, but is a bit more black pepper heavy than a traditional hot dog. The same seasoning mix works well when blending 50/50 chicken/duck and pressing into patties as seasoned poultry burgers.

Basically, 2# of seperated chicken.
1/4# beef fat or ham fat or pork fat.
Grind together, then toss with your spice mix and some ice
stuff and chill at least 24 hours, then smoke and/or air dry in the fridge.

Finally, cook and eat.

Spice mixes for hot dogs are usually something like this:

2 tblsp Paprika (Sweet or Smoked)
1-2 tblsp garlic powder
1 (rarely 2) tblsp onion powder
up to 3 tbsp "everything else"
1 tsp prague pwoder (pink curing salt)

The everything else usually contains a mix of:
celery salt, table salt, (salts total about 1 tbsp) black pepper (white or cayenne are very infrequent), coriander, mustard, "pountry seasoning" (marjoram, mace, rosemary, sage), sometimes a bit of sugar or milk powder (not more than a tsp).

Italian sausage? Your everything else is parsley, table salt, basil or oregano (basil!), fennel seed, red pepper flake, and a heavy hit of red wine vinegar when you are mixing with the ice.

 

[Brooks_]

1 tsp prague pwoder (pink curing salt)

I'm sure it would take some experimenting or a deep web search for the right amount, but I would like to try to celery powder or something instead of sodium nitrate. Just my thought on the recipe.