Lobsters

[donrae]

I took some lobster remains out a few minutes ago. We had steamed them over salt water, so not much extra added taste or spice. There were also bits of rice and some cut up lettuce, so something for everyone. I left the body part all together, but used my kitchen scissors to cut some of the shell away so they could get their beaks in better. Somehow I just couldn't see myself whaling away at those carcasses with a hammer. I kept thinking splatter, mess, smell, cleanup, time spent doing things I don't enjoy. I do wonder if it would be feasible to use a food processor. That might give me an easily eaten and stored mush with less raw effort and only normal kitchen clean up. Since there were six lobsters and only twelve chickens, I think we have treats for a long time to come. I may try the processor, my husband is not home to object to misuse of a fine tool, that he gave me.

Sounds like you need an 11 year old boy! That's always my son's job, to break up the pumpkins and stuff for the birds. He loves it!

 

[Glasshen]

Oh, yes, those are handy, I had two of those over the years, but they didn't last. Now they are 26 and 32. Just extracting the part of lobsters that people eat almost did them in.

 

[centrarchid]

Try feeding them shell as well although larger chunks may need to be busted up a bit. I would not be surprised if they have the ability to digest the chitin making up much of the exoskeleton.

 

[Ashburnham]

It takes them a while, but all the shell will eventually disappear.

 

[centrarchid]

It takes them a while, but all the shell will eventually disappear.

How do they bust up the heavy shell? The American Lobster I eat has a shell on the carapace and pinchers that seems to be a real challenge to break up for a chicken. I may cook up a lobster just to see how birds break up remains.

 

[NYREDS]

Really? That's cool. I did a search on Google and a link to a thread came on here and someone said that uncooked meat could be dangeous because of bacteria and things. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that's just what I saw and I'm still learning so I just assumed it was right.... Sorry for the confusion/false info everyone!

There's pleanty of "information" here that is based o n what people with very little experience think. No direct observation & certainly no researce, just what they think. This "information" then gets passed along & adopted as fact. Read with care!

 

[donrae]

How do they bust up the heavy shell? The American Lobster I eat has a shell on the carapace and pinchers that seems to be a real challenge to break up for a chicken. I may cook up a lobster just to see how birds break up remains.

Cook up a couple, send me the good parts and give your birds the rest. I'd be willing to participate in several sessions of this............

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

When I had a parrot, he used to love picking the meat out of the teeny ends of the lobster claws that I couldn't reach. I'm sure chickens would love lobster, too.

They sure liked the remains of the fish we had tonight for dinner!

 

[Ashburnham]

I'm not familiar with American lobsters, but assume they are similar to our crayfish.
It takes the birds weeks chipping away a tiny bit at a time, but it's all gone in the end.

 

[centrarchid]

I'm not familiar with American lobsters, but assume they are similar to our crayfish.
It takes the birds weeks chipping away a tiny bit at a time, but it's all gone in the end.

American Lobsters are generally larger but also much heavier bodied than your crayfish. Our crayfish run a bit smaller than yours but some have relatively hard shells,