Hi everyone! At this point I'm somewhat experienced with poultry slaughtering, but still learning. Let's talk guts!
It's important to me to waste as little of each carcass as possible, but I just can't tolerate the flavor of innards. My 6 month old Kangal Shepherd puppy feels quite the opposite so I made a batch of "blood sausage" from a recipe I found online, by lining the bottom of the blood catcher bowl with uncooked oatmeal, then cooking it with chopped up giblets. (I read that if dogs eat raw poultry, they could learn to associate live birds with delicious food, and I'd very much like to avoid that.) It was a huge hit.
The next time, I used almost the entire birds. I donated the feathers, heads, feet, gall bladders, and gizzard contents to our local vultures, and kept the rest of the meat, skin, and bones for human consumption. Everything else got pulsed in the food processor with some wrinkled potatoes and cooked into a paste that didn't look or smell wonderful to me, but not the worst thing ever, either. At this point I'm feeding some to my puppy daily, as a treat/supplement to her Purina kibbles, not as her main or sole diet.
Has anyone else traveled down this path? Which poultry parts are for humans, animals, and "other" in your households?
It's important to me to waste as little of each carcass as possible, but I just can't tolerate the flavor of innards. My 6 month old Kangal Shepherd puppy feels quite the opposite so I made a batch of "blood sausage" from a recipe I found online, by lining the bottom of the blood catcher bowl with uncooked oatmeal, then cooking it with chopped up giblets. (I read that if dogs eat raw poultry, they could learn to associate live birds with delicious food, and I'd very much like to avoid that.) It was a huge hit.
The next time, I used almost the entire birds. I donated the feathers, heads, feet, gall bladders, and gizzard contents to our local vultures, and kept the rest of the meat, skin, and bones for human consumption. Everything else got pulsed in the food processor with some wrinkled potatoes and cooked into a paste that didn't look or smell wonderful to me, but not the worst thing ever, either. At this point I'm feeding some to my puppy daily, as a treat/supplement to her Purina kibbles, not as her main or sole diet.
Has anyone else traveled down this path? Which poultry parts are for humans, animals, and "other" in your households?
) and they spend their lives protecting our flock of several hundred free-range birds (layers, broilers, ducks, and turkeys). We had to train both dogs around poultry of course, but I have seen no evidence of their raw poultry treats causing them to become aggressive towards the birds in 5+ years that we've been letting the chickens range free. They still chase deer, raccoons, and rabbits constantly so they have lots of prey drive, but they will also lounge in the shade with our chickens and goats.
. I have a border collie/lab/pit mix and a catahoula/aussie both are about 50-60 pounds
