What to do with insides?

[LexsPeeps]

We are just a few weeks away from our first butchering. I'm excited as well as nervous. I've watched tons of videos and read alot of articles and my dad did this in his youth and will be here to give advice and help when we butcher and process. What I'm wondering is what to do with the insides? I'm aware alot of people eat certain parts i.e heart, liver etc. or give those to their dogs, but what can be given to my other chickens? I want to reduce as much waste as possible.

 

[rjohns39]

For me, we eat the heart, liver and gizzard. As for the rest, it goes into the compost pile. It's a personal choice, but I'm generally opposed to feeding chicken to chickens. I use the feet in my stock too.

ETA: the blood can go to compost or directly into your garden.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can certainly get different opinions on here but realize that is what they are, opinions. We all do things differently. That doesn't mean I think others are wrong, just that they do things differently.

I also like to reuse everything I can. If it's not a cut of meat I put on the table and is suitable, I use it for broth. The liver goes to the dogs. When I butcher I have two buckets handy. One bucket gets the stuff I feed back to the chickens. That includes various bits and pieces I take out like the sexual organs and lungs. It incudes fat and just bits of protein. I pretty much put in the entire digestive tract. I open the guts some to check for worms, then cut them into maybe 4" to 5" lengths. I don't empty them out. I figure there is nothing in there that isn't already inside the still living ones. I open the gizzard (which goes in the broth) into that bucket. I don't want to give them more than they can clean up before dark, it could attract predators, but they get many different things.

The stuff I don't give back to the chickens is generally buried in the garden. The Pilgrims were taught to bury a dead fish whenever they planted corn. Same type of thing, it will rot and the garden plants will eventually use it.

 

[Morrigan]

Either we, or the dogs, eat everything besides the digestive track. Liver pate is delicious, BTW, and something we always make for the holidays.

We are looking into getting pigs and, if we do, I will probably give them the digestive track. I don't know how rational it is, but I don't like feeding chicken back to chicken.

 

[Ridgerunner]

And the benefit of being rational is....................

We al have our yuk factors, limits, whatever. There are probably some things that I wouldn't do that you'd find different or weird. No big deal.

To hijack the thread a bit, I wouldn't be surprised if the pigs would eat the feathers too. They are mostly protein and should be good for them.

 

[LexsPeeps]

You can certainly get different opinions on here but realize that is what they are, opinions. We all do things differently. That doesn't mean I think others are wrong, just that they do things differently.

I also like to reuse everything I can. If it's not a cut of meat I put on the table and is suitable, I use it for broth. The liver goes to the dogs. When I butcher I have two buckets handy. One bucket gets the stuff I feed back to the chickens. That includes various bits and pieces I take out like the sexual organs and lungs. It incudes fat and just bits of protein. I pretty much put in the entire digestive tract. I open the guts some to check for worms, then cut them into maybe 4" to 5" lengths. I don't empty them out. I figure there is nothing in there that isn't already inside the still living ones. I open the gizzard (which goes in the broth) into that bucket. I don't want to give them more than they can clean up before dark, it could attract predators, but they get many different things.

The stuff I don't give back to the chickens is generally buried in the garden. The Pilgrims were taught to bury a dead fish whenever they planted corn. Same type of thing, it will rot and the garden plants will eventually use it.

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I needed to know, I don't want to put any organs in my compost bin as its close to the coop for the chickens to sift through and I don't want to attract predators. The dogs will get the feet as treats and the livers as we don't eat them. But I may actually patte it and add it into stuffing, I like the potentional health benefits of liver but I personally don't like eating it.

Thanks all for the advice/opinions! I have pigs but I've heard its not good to start pigs on meat as it changea their behavior towards other animals. We free range our pigs and chickens and I would hate to discover our pigs eating our chickens. I know its still a possibility they could but I don't want to push it.
Its a great idea to put the blood and other things into the garden, I'm always looking for natural ways to enhance our growing soil.

 

[LexsPeeps]

If my birds are weighing in between 5-7 pounds live, how much approx. would they weigh after they are defeathered and cleaned out?

 

[Morrigan]

If my birds are weighing in between 5-7 pounds live, how much approx. would they weigh after they are defeathered and cleaned out?

I've never actually done a before and after weigh in, but I've read that dressed weight is about 70% of live weight. Seems about right to me.

 

[RUNuts]

I've heard that the digestive track makes good catfish bait. Gonna try it one day.

 

[Cajun_MikeR]

If my birds are weighing in between 5-7 pounds live, how much approx. would they weigh after they are defeathered and cleaned out?

We slaughter cockerels once the smallest reaches approx 5lbs live, so they're anywhere from 5-6lbs live. After skinning (we don't pluck), cleaning, and ready for packaging, they're typically 3.5-4.25lbs dressed.