What do you do with the guts after you process?

[Brown Farmer]

Just like eggshells, you can feed them to the remaining flock.

 

[SinewStew]

I generally use everything but the intestines. I take those up the ridge away from houses and leave them there for raccoon, possum and bear. Never feed your chickens dead chicken parts, chickens are herbivores.

 

[rainplace]

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Huh? You're kidding right?

 

[crperdue]

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Man, I've seen my chickens eat LIVE chicken parts.

 

[Saltysteele]

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definitely not herbivores. bugs and worms aren't herbs, for example

chickens will eat anything and everything under the sun

 

[Amethyste]

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Huh? You're kidding right?

Um, yes... they are NOT herbivores. Not by a long shot.

I have seen a flock of chickens running as fast as they can across the pasture to munch on a deer carcass that a poacher left behind. They love to eat worms/bugs/mice/snakes/frogs/small birds/other chickens etc...and last I checked those are not vegetables. If you passed out in the coop they would certainly try to taste you.

As my grandad used to say... "Chickens don't get mad chicken disease!! Leave a dead cow in the field, and the other cows will get as far away as possible. Leave a dead chicken in the pen and the other birds will come running out with a napkin round their necks and a fork and knife in each wing."

But anyway, they are most definitely not vegetarian lol At least not by choice....

 

[orientphoenix]

my parents eat the organs but not all the things in there, of course u have to clean it and prepare it a special way

and if ur not totally disgusted with the idea of eating chicken feet then their r recipes on how to clean and cook them
here is how my mama does it, u only need the feet not the long legs unless u want it in to, of course clean it first, anyways u boil until the meat is soft and then u drain the juice and u put in sliced ginger and green onions, if u happen to live near an asian store get some lemon grass and slice it in half and throw it in there for flavoring and atlast put in the kikkoman soy sauce, oyster sauce, sriracha sauce and a little bit of sugar cane syrup and cook till the meat is brown and the ginger is mid way soft

 

[TexGardenGirl]

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Um, nobody is getting MY chicken's feet. They are the "in" thing right now among high end chefs and people like Martha Stewart for making soup stocks. High in flavor and gelatin. I'm definitely going to try it, despite the comments I know I'm going to get from the family.

My great-aunt Catt used to clean, peel and fry the feet. Not much meat on them. But they are crunchy to gnaw on. LOL. But they make some GREAT chicken stock. I would think you could even boil the heads.

We recently bought a silky at the Asian supermarket (DH wanted to see what it tastes like before we got silkies to raise - tastes like chicken!) Anyway, we knew that the feet were included because you could see them through the package. What I did not realize until I was prepping it to cook was that the head was included too. I worried for a sec that it might not even have been gutted, but it was. (Strangely, no other giblets were included, just a whole gutted chicken from head to toe.) I saved the head and feet for stock, and it was great, no weird "head taste" like I feared...
From our own chickens, I save the heart, neck & gizzard for stock, livers are saved separately (supposedly for DH but he usually doesn't get around to cooking them before they freezerburn, so then they go to the cats). One of the cats likes to hang around on slaughter day and carries the heads off. I've never found remains so I guess she eats most of it. We should probably let her have the rest of the entrails, but I'm not quite ready to see where she might leave them after she fills up! We sometimes save a few feathers if it's an especially pretty roo, or one we liked a lot. The rest goes in the trash. We go back and forth on whether to try composting them, so far we've always decided not to, just in case we don't get it deep enough - we have too many predators snooping around the yard already. But I know it would be good for the garden...

 

[WishboneDawn]

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I just ordered a case of blood sausage at my local Co-op grocery store. I grew up on it and love it.

 

[AngelaClassAct]

Unless you are USDA inspected, I don't think you can legally sell any of the extras to stores or restaurants. I've been told that feathers really help along a compost heap. If you can't compost it the "gut like stuff", then you might want to post on Craigs List for someone local who might be interested in the necks, hearts, livers, lungs, and feet. They might even come by to help you process for those things. If not, then you can set up buckets for the different parts and they can pick up when you're done.
Good luck!