Offal Disposal

[NewBoots]

So sooner or later we will start processing our meat birds, and I'm curious if it's safe to give the laying hens or not ready for processing meat birds the guts and other offal that I'm not interested in. Hearts, livers, heads, feet and wing tips are all to be kept for the stock pot if nothing else, but what about the rest?

Can I feed them raw to the other birds? Pressure cook them first? Composting isn't practical because of assorted predators in the area.

What do you folks do?

 

[aart]

I chuck mine into the woods but I have 15 acres, no close neighbors and only process 4-5 birds at a time.

 

[LilyD]

I feed the edible offal to my dogs and the intestines and other not so cool parts I bury in the back yard so it enriches the soil

 

[Ridgerunner]

When i process chickens I keep two buckets handy. In one I put the intestines (cut into 4" or so pieces), bits of fat, testicles, and other bits of protein. This bucket goes to the surviving chickens. No cooking or anything, just give it to them raw and in an amount they can finish before night so I don't attract predators. Like you I have other uses for many of the organs and such.

I keep another bucket that gets the heads, feathers, stuff I don't feed the chickens. This gets buried in may garden in a area I won't be digging up for a couple of months. My garden is fenced so it keeps out dogs, coyotes, etc. I have buried it in my orchard, which is not fenced. When I do that I put a piece of wire mesh over it held down with pavers to stop digging animals.

If I time it to when I start a new compost pile, I empty that bucket at what will be the bottom of the compost. I layer several different layers of stuff on top, including stuff that has been in my gathering bin for a while and is already mostly compost. As long as I put enough layers of certain stuff to keep the smell in nothing digs it out. I do not turn my compost pile for quite a while. If the smell gets out it will get dug up.

 

[woodmort]

Feathers are ok, but I wouldn't recommend putting meat parts in a compost pile.

 

[LilyD]

Feathers are ok, but I wouldn't recommend putting meat parts in a compost pile.

You can actually do blood as well as feathers. I tend to just bury the stuff that isn't compostable in the woods behind my house. My entire property is fenced in so it isn't a problem with wild animals getting into it or anything and it's biodegradable.

 

[woodmort]

You can actually do blood as well as feathers. I tend to just bury the stuff that isn't compostable in the woods behind my house. My entire property is fenced in so it isn't a problem with wild animals getting into it or anything and it's biodegradable.

Yeah, if you aren't careful the next thing you know you've got rats, coons and foxes digging in your compost then moving on to your chickens.

 

[NewBoots]

Thank you all for the feedback. Second question: We will be doing a lot of fishing, can we give the guts to the chickens? I can throw the bony inedible parts in the pressure cooker to soften them for the birds but I'd think the guts should fine raw.

Opinions?

 

[wyoDreamer]

When we go fishing and have success, I fillet what I want off and throw the rest to the chickens. All that is left the next day is the backbone and fins.

 

[wyoDreamer]

It is actually an accepted Ag practice with a Best Management Practice design sheet from the NCRS for farmers to compost dead chickens using hay or straw. Yes, it may attract predators.

Best bet would be to bury what your chickens won't eat.