Disposing of waste from chicken processing

[Papaw-John]

I am trying to get all my ducks in a row before I start processing my meat birds (in 3 months) I am going to buy, or make something to help me wring their necks humanely.
I have been researching to figure out how to get rid of the chicken offal (guts) and feathers.

1. I am planning to feed the offal to my catfish, I will space out my processing to a pace the catfish can consume all of it.

2. The feathers I think I can put in my large composter. Has anybody composed feathers?

3. I am not sure what to do with the heads and feet (I don't eat chicken feet, I just don't)
I could put them in the dumpster, but is there a way to utilize them. I do not want a bunch of skulls on the bottom of my pond.

Thoughts?

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. I am planning to feed the offal to my catfish, I will space out my processing to a pace the catfish can consume all of it.

That should work. I feed mine back to the remaining chickens.

2. The feathers I think I can put in my large composter. Has anybody composed feathers?

Feathers compost well as long as they don't blow away.

3. I am not sure what to do with the heads and feet (I don't eat chicken feet, I just don't)
I could put them in the dumpster, but is there a way to utilize them. I do not want a bunch of skulls on the bottom of my pond.

I bury my waste of this type, usually in the garden but occasionally the orchard. The garden is fenced so dogs, coyotes, and such can't dig it up. If in the orchard I spread a section of fencing over it to stop digging.

I use the feet in broth. I blanch them in boiling water for about 15 seconds. The claws twist out and the skin isn't that hard to peel off, but if you overcook it the skin shreds, it is a pain. This gets them clean enough for me but I can understand others not feeling that way.

I wonder, if your catfish are big enough to swallow the heads whole would you get a build-up of skulls? Catfish eat a lot of things with bones. Do they regurgitate the bones or absorb them? I don't know.

Do you have pigs? They'd probably eat them, bone and all.

That's about all I can come up with for possibilities.

 

[Papaw-John]

Do you have pigs? They'd probably eat them, bone and all.
That's about all I can come up with for possibilities.

Duhh! I do have pigs. THANKS

 

[Ridgerunner]

I love it, did I get lucky on that guess. Even a blind hog can pick up an acorn every now and then.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Pigs or dogs are great options. You can always compost anything if your compost pile is big enough and hot enough, and that includes heads and feet, but the bones will stay. You can always bake them in a low oven for a while, crush them with a hammer and add the bone meal back to your soil, however.

 

[Maeschak]

Duhh! I do have pigs. THANKS

Duhh! I do have pigs. THANKS

I've read that a lot of folks just pitch their whole dead chickens (if they don't eat them) to their hogs- and the hogs love them beaks and all!

 

[Smuvers Farm]

I 2nd the vote on using chicken feet in broth... they are chock FULL of collagen and bring so much flavor to a broth it's unreal! Ever see broth that is so thick it looks like Jell-o? It's from an abundance of collagen, which I bet had feet used in the making of it.

Also, you could process as many chickens as you want a freeze the offal to feed to your fish at a later date.

 

[Maeschak]

Feet are perfect for stock (scald and peel, u will be amazed how clean they are after that). But it's cool if u just can't do it- I hear dogs absolutely love them. Throw them in the freezer and pull one out once in awhile for the dog.

 

[trudyg]

You could portion out the pieces into baggies and freeze--catfish would eat them, I'll bet. Also, you can freeze until garbage day and put it in with the rest of the trash.

 

[JiminyChristmas]

Feathers compost well but spread them out or they will clump. I have a coworker that takes all my chicken feet, another that takes the liver (or I'll use for catfish bait). I'll eat the heart, gizzard, and now even the testes. Guts go in the ground. Backbones, neck, etc. go to stock. Cooked leftovers go back to the chickens.

I've done the raw food with my hound dogs. Food aggression was a problem. Your mileage may vary.